1. D’Angelo Russell
No matter how many Pokemon jokes were made about or how many shots were blocked by Zubac, there’s no question that D’Angelo Russell was the star that shined the brightest for the Lakers at Summer League. Fans will recall just last season when he came to Vegas as a rookie and absolutely stunk up the joint as he was almost wholly not ready for the pro game. In Vegas now, he showed the enormous strides forward that he’s taken.
Russell was one of the leading scorers at Summer League and really did it all for the Lakers over the four games that he played as he averaged 21.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, four assists, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting solid percentages from the floor and from three. However, his statistical output and overall dominance was ultimately not the greatest thing that he showed in the four contests he was a part of.
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What really stood out about Russell throughout Summer League, though, was the fact that Russell was clearly the leader of this team every time that he was on the floor. He was vocal, direct, and absolutely fantastic in that regard. Considering that’s the type of role that the Lakers would obviously like him to play going forward, that’s what stands out the most and why Russell was clearly the biggest star for the Lakers at Summer League.