D'Angelo Russell has been one of the few bright spots for the Los Angeles Lakers this season. While trade rumors were flying around his head, Russell stuck with it and has been the hottest scorer on the entire team. Without Russell's uptick in production, the Lakers would be several games worse than they already are.
Russell recently sat down with ESPN's Dave McMenamin and explained what was going through his mind not just during the trade deadline, but in the offseason before re-signing with the Lakers. Russell even took it further than that and discussed his underwhelming showing in the 2023 Western Conference Finals.
Russell touched on the fact that he could not form a great relationship with head coach Darvin Ham because of Ham's relationship with former point guard Dennis Schroder. Schroder and Ham's closeness seemingly boxed Russell out, and it seemed to have an impact on his offseason decision. D'Lo said he originally did not want to re-sign with the Lakers. Funnily enough, he signed one day after Schroder signed with the Toronto Raptors.
Schroder, who is now with the Brooklyn Nets, has caught wind of these comments from Russell and to say that he is unhappy is an understatement. The veteran point guard did not mince words about his former teammate when speaking to the media.
Dennis Schroder on D'Angelo Russell's comments: "I don't understand it. But at the end of the day, it just shows off immaturity. You're not really mature if you’re just keeping somebody's name in his mouth and just running it. I don't understand." #Nets #LAL #Lakers
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) March 15, 2024
Dennis Schroder minces no words while responding to D'Angelo Russell
Ouch, well it looks like these two do not have a great relationship after playing with each other on the Lakers. In fact, Schroder being so willing to not mince words about Russell probably highlights some existing animosity between the two point guards.
To be completely fair, Russell isn't necessarily in the wrong here. Ham definitely had a much better relationship with Schroder and that absolutely bled into his coaching decisions. Lakers fans saw the exact same thing happen this year with Taurean Prince, who got far more playing time than Rui Hachimura for most of the year.
Russell has every right to feel the way that he does, but Schroder also has the right to respond in the media. Schroder has been out of the picture for nine months now and has nothing to do with this year's Lakers team.
There is nothing like good NBA drama and it seems like we have an old-fashioned rivalry brewing on our hands. Unfortunately, there is no way for this rivalry to be settled on the court this year with the two guards in different conference. I don't know about you, but I don't think there is going to be a Lakers-Nets NBA Finals, either.