After another disappointing postseason, Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell had a player option that he was destined to pick up. His future with the organization remained in doubt, however, with the possibility of a trade looming.
However, no trade materialized and L.A. is essentially running it back with the same team last year. It is worth noting that keeping Russell is not a bad thing given his regular season performance and his ability to get the Lakers through 82 games.
Last season, Russell broke the Lakers’ franchise record for most 3-pointers made during a season, which was previously held by Nick Van Exel.
Van Exel’s record was 183 triples and the former Ohio State product finished the year with 226 to shatter it. Now heading into this season, the 28-year-old guard believes he can break his record, he told Spectrum SportsNet on Lakers Media Day:
“I think so. Honestly, respectfully, I haven’t played in a system or structure of this caliber that he’s trying to implement. So for me, I’m super excited playing with the ball, without the ball, just playing high-level basketball. You could easily go to a team and get shipped off somewhere and you’re not playing as high-level of basketball as you were playing and you have to recalibrate that. For me to be in this position again, I’m grateful.”
It is certainly doable, but last season was arguably Russell’s best season of his career. He put up 18 points per game on 45.6% from the field and 41.5% from 3-point range, the latter being a career-high.
But an interesting caveat to this is what head coach JJ Redick’s offense looks like during the regular season and how many clean looks Russell gets. Judging by the preseason, Redick’s offense is centered around moving the ball and shooting 3s, which fits their starting point guard’s skillset.
When Russell was engaged offensively and effective next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, L.A. won a majority of the time. That is all that matters, so if the 6’3″ guard is the third scoring option more often than not, the Lakers should win more games and records will follow.
D’Angelo Russell believes Rui Hachimura will make big impact for Lakers
Despite most of the focus being on D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura struggled in the playoffs last year as well. So, those two players need to bounce back and redeem themselves should they get back to the postseason.
With a new head coach in place, Russell believes Hachimura will make a big impact for L.A. this upcoming season.