D’Angelo Russell is a Los Angeles Laker turned Brooklyn Net…again. Six and a half years after trading Brook Lopez among other assets for Russell and Timofey Mozgov, the Nets brought DLo back again, with three second-rounders beside him, shipping out Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton in the process.
Now a 10-year veteran, he’s undoubtedly a journeyman point guard, even if he’s just been retracing steps.
As a result, Russell will partake in his second “revenge” game vs the Lakers tonight. Prior to the affair, Russell spoke this afternoon on his second stint in purple and gold, expressing some eagerness to face his old team.
“It’s exciting,” Russell said. “I’m excited to be on this side, attacking those guys. Obviously a lot of my friends are over there, so it’s gonna be a different feel, but I’m excited.”
Russell went on to call his second tenure with the Lakers “a blur,” without offering much more. Maybe he’s saving it for the game.
“I think coming in, I was locked in to what I had to achieve personally to be there,” he said. “To not be there now, obviously it is something that you try to get over and just try to move past. But that is a place that, you know, I’ve been there twice, there’s a home for me there. For myself, I feel like that’s a part of my career that’s something you can’t really take back, so I appreciate it. So I’m just looking forward to moving on.”
D’Angelo Russell, ahead of the Nets playing the Lakers tonight, called his second stint with L.A. “a blur.” While he said he appreciated his time with the Lakers he added, “I’m looking forward to moving on” pic.twitter.com/TGV7wMdu7W
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 17, 2025
Tonight’s game will also grant Brooklyn its second go at an LA team this week. The first one didn’t go too well, in case you forgot, or better yet. missed it all.
“Yeah exactly,” Russell said when asked the team’s approach to tonight. “Short term memory loss. Obviously that’s not who we are, what we want to display. So just coming out, trying to respond, and get a win.”
Russell’s averaged 12.8 points and 8.3 assists per game while posting .410/.333 shooting splits so far during this sequel season for him in Brooklyn. The dimes represent his largest increase since coming over from LA, where he averaged just 4.7 per game beforehand.
