Rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell of the Los Angeles Lakers has gone from a talented young player with a potentially bright future in the NBA to arguably public enemy number one among his peers.
Russell’s incident with Nick Young made headlines all over the country with this latest scandal being the talk of the NBA. The Ohio State product has been heavily criticized for his role in the incident and now knows how difficult it can be to deal with a situation like this in Los Angeles via Bill Oram of OC Register:
D’Angelo Russell said, “You’ve really got to have thick skin to survive in this era and this city.“
— Bill Oram (@billoram) April 1, 2016
Along with dealing with this controversial incident, the Lakers organization is headed for another disappointing end to a season. The team will miss the NBA playoffs for a third straight year with a lot of uncertainty moving forward.
After the season officially comes to a close and Kobe Bryant retires, the Lakers brass will be busy evaluating draft prospects as well as putting a plan together to pursue top-tier free agents in July.
Russell’s incident has made the team’s chances of having a successful summer in free agency that much more difficult with the way the organization is currently being portrayed. The Lakers will likely stay the course regardless as they attempt to set up the future in the post-Kobe Bryant era in Los Angeles.