Two years ago, ahead of the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers were looking for a new starting point guard, and Kyrie Irving was available. LeBron James wanted to reunite with his old Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, but the Lakers couldn’t get a deal done before Irving was shipped off to Dallas instead.
This left the Lakers with no choice but to turn to alternative options, which landed D’Angelo Russell, a poor man’s Kyrie Irving, except this one doesn’t play any defense and lacks consistency.
While D-Lo has had moments of impressive play, he’s also had times when he’s nothing but a liability, whether he’s missing shots or getting attacked when he’s playing defense. Ultimately, we learned that Russell wasn’t the solution in Los Angeles, and now he has the right to become a free agent, depending on whether he wants to play under his $18.6 million player option.
Russell’s future in LA is unclear, but the Lakers had a chance to avoid this situation by agreeing to trade their starting point guard earlier in the season. There was even an All-Star available.
