Rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start with the Los Angeles Lakers. Although Russell has already shown flashes of brilliance on the basketball court for Los Angeles, the rookie did rub the majority of Lakers fans the wrong way with one of his tweets recently.
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A few weeks ago, Russell took to Twitter to express his admiration for Tracy McGrady. The Ohio State claimed that McGrady may have been the greatest player of all-time in a tweet that sent shockwaves throughout the Lakers fan base.
As expected, Kobe Bryant responded to Russell’s ill-advised tweet in classic fashion. Russell then apologized and received a surprisingly positive second response from the five-time NBA champion basically giving him a pass while telling him to be prepared to “shock the world” next season.
On Saturday, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News caught up with Russell and asked about the whole ordeal. Russell explained his intentions:
“There’s a lot of spoiled Lakers fans. I wasn’t downgrading Kobe at all,” Russell said Saturday in an interview with the Los Angeles News Group. “I was just watching a highlight tape of Tracy McGrady and I got excited. I tweeted and the whole state of California went crazy.”
One thing Russell has already proven during his short time with the Lakers is that he has no problem saying what’s on his mind or what he believes. Russell, like anyone else, is entitled to his opinion and can express that in any way that he wants.
The problem is how he expressed his view about McGrady and whether it was a smart thing to do when one is trying to win over Lakers fans as a rookie. Russell already has a lot to prove after the team chose to pick him over Jahlil Okafor and digging the hole a little deeper is a rookie mistake that could prove costly if he struggles during his first year in Los Angeles.
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