Lakers: How Does D’Angelo Russell’s Season Compare to 2016 Rookies?

Comparing D’Angelo Russell’s first season with the Lakers to the rest of the 2016 rookie class

D’Angelo Russell lived through a unique, tumultuous, and celebratory season full of life lessons in his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers.

More lakers: Lakers 2015-16 Season Roster Grades: D'Angelo Russell

However, let’s put aside all the drama of the season including Kobe’s every changing minutes, the exposing of Nick Young’s personal life, and not being played in the fourth quarter when needed, and focus on rookie NBA stats. How did Russell perform with respect to his NBA rookie peers this season?

Russell managed to improve throughout the season, regardless of all the drama and losses, and he came into his own by the time Kobe was shooting out the lights in his last game. Russell played so well this season overall that he made the All-Second NBA Rookie team.

2015-16 NBA ALL-ROOKIE FIRST TEAM

2015-16 NBA ALL-ROOKIE SECOND TEAM

An impressive feat given that Russell’s Lakers only won 17 and lost 65 games this season. Let’s dive into his stats and see how they match up against the rest of the 2015-16 NBA rookie class.

Starting first with steals, we’ll go category by category to see how Russell stacked up to his peers.

Note: All ranks are in reference to among rookies who played 800 minutes or more. 

Next: Steals