D’Angelo Russell scored 22 points, dished out five assists, pulled in four rebounds, and hit a game-winning three in the Lakers’ 70-69 win on Saturday night against Philadelphia. However, the NBA Summer League is a time to look at flaws and consider how you can get better as a basketball player.
For Russell, his issues were that he turned the ball over six times and went 8-for-20 from the field with a 3-for-9 mark from behind the arc. Sure, if he goes for more than 20 points on 40 percent shooting he’d be a perfect replacement for the older version of Kobe Bryant, but Russell is holding himself to a really high standard and wants to play better than that.
So when J.A. Adande of ESPN wanted to know Russell’s thoughts on the final play, Russell gave a very NSFW answer: “I played like sh*t.” This would be fine if Adande was interviewing Russell for a column or something, but instead, the interview happened on live television. It led to Adande pulling the mic away from Russell and making a face that basically said “hey, D’Angelo, that’s not a thing that you should do when there’s a hot mic near you, pal.”
Russell could be on the verge of a really big sophomore year in the NBA, especially because he will be one of the guys that the 2016-17 Lakers lean on the most. It’s reasonable to assume that he’ll give a ton of post-game interviews, and after today, it’s also reasonable to assume that those will be must-watch television.
