This past season was the best of Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell’s career as he found his form from deep in January and never looked back.
After struggling mightily in the 2023 Western Conference Finals, Russell received a slight pay decrease to remain in L.A. which seemed to give him some extra motivation.
As an original draft pick of the Lakers and now in his second stint with the team, Russell is looking for a long-term home where he can compete for championships. Even though he has yet to reach that goal yet, it’d hard to deny everything Russell has accomplished in his young career and his competitive spirit is a big reason for that.
The NBA features an immense amount of competitors and players need that edge if they want to get a ring. Russell recently detailed how he became so competitive in not only basketball, but everything he does, via The Backyard Podcast:
“I mean, I would say during basketball. When I first started, it hurt when I lost and that’s when I knew it was like something. Because nothing else I did, nothing else I felt hurt when I lost. I was just like, what the hell is that? Then in time, I started using it to my advantage, trying to come with a competitive edge before the game even starts and whatever we’re doing. I always try to approach it with an early and often mentality because my competitive edge got me off jumping early and then it’s just going to be as often as you can think. By the time you look up, we’re up 20 points, we’re up 15 points, we’re up 10 points, where I just went on a run, eight, nine-point run by myself or something like that.”
The mental side of basketball is an underrated part of the game and it is not talked about enough. For Russell, he recognizes that and utilizes it due in part to not being the most gifted athlete.
Despite having some shortcomings in terms of playoff performances, Russell has carried the Lakers at times throughout the last two seasons.
If the former Ohio State product is able to remain with L.A. through the entire duration of next season, it will become interesting to monitor his playoff performance once again to see any potential adjustments to his game.
There’s sense D’Angelo Russell & Austin Reaves backcourt reached its ceiling
There is essentially a two-year sample size with a D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves backcourt that struggles defensively, which instinctively warrants a potential need to break up the pairing.
And it appears there is a sense in the organization that this backcourt has reached its ceiling, although the Lakers have yet to make any moves up to this point to improve the roster.
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