As he struggled to make plays and earn playing time for the Lakers, D’Angelo Russell was the talk of the trade world this month. However, he is now the talk of the town after going on an especially hot shooting streak. “I just try to give the media new headlines,” D’Lo said about his ongoing dominance. “Y’all talk about trades and all that… you gotta talk about me making shots at some point.”
It’s obvious that D’Lo is feeling good following his 28 points and 5 assists in 49 minutes of action against Golden State. He jumped for jumpers without hesitation because of his unbelievable confidence during the competition. The Lakers have been waiting for D’Angelo to deliver a performance like this since they won the championship in 2020. As Russell plays himself out of the trade block, all the signs point to a promising future. However, it remains to be seen if Russell can maintain consistency in his play.
A Growing Danger in the West
However, LeBron James and Anthony Davis alone are enough to make a deep postseason run, as we saw with the Lakers last year when they won two playoff rounds as the 7th seed. As it stands, the Lakers, at 24-23, are on the outside looking in at the circle of championship contenders.
Even though their collective ceiling is still unknown, no sane team will write them off entirely. In addition to LeBron and Davis, the Lakers have Austin Reaves as a safety net, and he has proven himself to be a valuable player when the stakes are high. Of course, D’Angelo Russell is the biggest unknown of all, given the offensive impact he has when he hits shots. If they don’t trade Russell, he could play a major role in helping them make it back to the Conference Finals and shock the world once again.
Are Lakers Going to Tade Russell?
General Manager Rob Pelinka is making every effort to increase his team’s chances of winning while the Lakers players compete for victories on the court. Pelinka just needs to find role players to round out the roster because the stars are already in place. However, finding the right players is difficult, especially if it means giving up someone.
As of right now, no trades are scheduled, but that could alter if the proper opportunity arises. Even though Russell has been extremely valuable to them, they may be better off looking for someone with more stability in their game because of his ongoing struggles with defense and consistency, which make him unreliable in the postseason. Naturally, there is little chance that D’Lo will be traded given how well he is playing right now. The Lakers may decide to keep this team together. Actually, this team’s destiny and the players they retain as the LeBron James era comes to an end will depend on how the playoffs turn out.
