Los Angeles Lakers: Trading D’Angelo Russell was the right move

Despite the success of D’Angelo Russell in Brooklyn, the Los Angeles Lakers made the right move by trading him.

D’Angelo Russell is hotter than fish grease on the stove right now. This year has been a renaissance year for Russell that brought his reputation back from the deepest depths of infamy. He is now one of the main components of a Brooklyn Nets team that in some ways as a franchise is going through their own journey to get back to NBA credit-ability.

How long has it been since anyone put the “Kevin Garnett trade” in the same sentence as the Nets? It’s been a awhile but the Nets have done a great job to put that debacle in the past.

Recently, Brooklyn Nets came back from 28 points down to defeat the Sacramento Kings 123-121 in the final seconds.

D’Angelo Russell went absolutely nuts in the game scoring 27 points in the 4th quarter outscoring the Kings outright 27-18 to finish with 44 points and 12 assists. He did all of this on 17-33 shooting with six 3 point shots and finished it off with the statement heard all around the NBA…

“I’m built for this…” Okay I’m not going to finish the statement because this is a family friendly website. But being in Brooklyn has now brought D’Angelo Russell some serious street cred…

I know what you are thinking…

So? This is not a Nets website? Who cares about the Brooklyn Nets and the Sacramento Kings? What about the Lakers? What about LeBron James? Any idea why Magic Johnson gave up all of those great players for the roster that was a total mess?

Now you are getting the connection. Remember the first big (…and most controversial) trade Magic Johnson has made in his tenure as President of Basketball Operations was trading D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mosgov’s albatross contract to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and a first round pick. That first round pick turned into Kyle Kuzma. Brook Lopez was not re-signed by the Lakers and signed with the Bucks. A fact that might be too soon to remind the front office after Lopez picked the Lakers apart earlier this week.

The walls should be closing in on Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka these days especially when all the players Magic Johnson let walk out the door seemingly came back and destroyed the Lakers when their new teams squared up.

First it was Julius Randle who led the Pelicans in a “Anthony Davis-less” beatdown of the Lakers in New Orleans, then he followed that up with a monster performance in the Staples Center scoring 35 points (Many over LeBron James) with 6 rebounds.

Then, the aforementioned Brook Lopez explosion that led to his season high 28 points on the strength on seven 3 point shots.

What gets lost is what D’Angelo Russell did to the Lakers earlier this season when the Nets beat them in what was considered at the time an upset. Russell worked the Lakers for 22 points and 13 assists and closed the night out with a distance 3 pointer screaming to the Lakers “That’s what I do!”

Well that sets up a very interesting storyline for Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss on Friday night when the Nets come to the Staples Center looking for a season sweep of the Lakers. If Russell comes anywhere near the performance he put on in Sacramento, the internet will break with fans calling for changes rival to when Jarrett Allen blocked LeBron James’ dunk at the rim. 

But I have to get ahead of this story. No matter what happens on Friday and how well D’Angelo Russell plays. Magic Johnson had to make the trade and he is right. I’ll be the first to admit that Magic Johnson has done a terrible job this year and made a ton of mistakes.

But this is not one of them…