Grading every Lakers signing during NBA free agency
By Jason Reed
Lakers re-sign D’Angelo Russell: C+
D’Angelo Russell is coming off of a horrible Western Conference Finals that saw all of his issues come to light. Casual basketball fans see Russell’s ball-handling and shot-making ability and mistake that for greatness (in large part because that is what AAU culture has created as good basketball).
When in reality, Russell has serious flaws that hurt a team. There is a reason why every team that has had him was in no rush to keep him. He gets ice cold, can check out of games mentally and doesn’t make the right plays or rotations on defense.
We said it here at Lake Show Life when the Lakers traded for him: Russell has similar tendencies as Russell Westbrook, but not as bad. What made D’Lo so much better is he wasn’t draining the locker room and he can get hot with his shooting.
So why is this a C+ instead of a bad grade? Well, the Lakers kind of had to do it. The alternative was letting Russell walk in free agency. If that happened, the Lakers couldn’t simply recoup the cap space they spent on Russell as they spent it using Bird Rights.
At two years for $39 million the Lakers are not paying an arm and a leg for Russell and it won’t hurt the team in the long run. Heck, it wouldn’t be that shocking if Russell is traded at the deadline or next summer for a larger return. Keep the asset now, figure out the rest later.