Los Angeles Lakers: 4 reasons to avoid signing D’Angelo Russell
By Robert Marvi
2. He doesn’t get to the free throw line
To be a bona fide scoring threat in the NBA, it’s not enough to shoot the ball enough and make shots at an efficient rate. You also must get to the free throw line several times a game and knock down those foul shots.
Russell doesn’t do that. So far in his four NBA seasons, he has only averaged 2.6 free throw attempts per game, which is very poor for someone who averaged 21.1 points this season.
Compare that to Kemba Walker, who has averaged 4.7 free throws a game in his career, or Kyrie Irving, who has averaged 4.4 foul shots a game in his career.
Even when he does get to the charity stripe, Russell is not particularly good at converting. He has a lifetime free throw shooting percentage of 76.2 percent, which is only slightly above the league average.
Keep in mind that the Lakers were 29th in a 30-team league in free throw shooting percentage this season at just 69.9 percent. With Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart – three guys who all shot less than 70 percent from the foul line – about to be moved for Anthony Davis, the Lakers need to remedy their bad free throw shooting by signing guys who make at least 80 percent of their foul shots.