– A year older
One of the reasons why many Lakers fans were upset the Russell was traded was because of his age. Russell is just 21-years-old, and he will be until February of 2018. With two years of NBA experience already, Russell is still growing as a man and as a player.
It is very rare to see teenagers light it up in the NBA, however, Russell was very impressive as a 19-years-old. In Kobe Bryant’s farewell season, Russell was a teenager and a rookie. As a developing young player and point guard, playing with Bryant wasn’t the best thing for Russell. Bryant being on his farewell tour resulted in him taking over the offense at times. For Russell, that didn’t help him in his rookie season.
For Russell, the 2017-18 season will be his third one in the NBA. Even though he missed a good chunk of the season last year, he has played over 100 games as a professional now. As shown from his rookie season to last season, Russell did improve. In the same amount of minutes per game, Russell saw some nice increases across the board. Now entering his third season, the Nets will be expecting Russell to likely take a significant step in his development.