After the Los Angeles Lakers’ blowout win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals, everybody in Lakerland was on Cloud 9, including old friend D’Angelo Russell. DLo was coming off one of his best games in this year’s playoffs, scoring an efficient 21 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal. After his high-profile game on the big stage, Sam Amick of The Athletic caught up with Russell to ask about how he was liking his new role with the Lakers.
Amick asked D’Angelo several questions. He answered them honestly within the moment, and reflected on several nuanced subjects. DLo discussed the internal dissonance of feeling like he could be a No. 1 option on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ offense, while simultaneously being a team player and still wanting to excel in the more distribution-oriented role that Minnesota’s front office wanted him in. He discussed how that hurt his confidence for a while, and that he would play in the Timberwolves stay-in-shape leagues with the bench players to keep his confidence up.
Of course, because of the landscape of post-Twitter sports media, several sites aggregated the spiciest quotes while taking out both the specific questions Amick asked DLo and most of his actual responses. As a result, the primary quotes that circulated were things like:
- “I felt like I was held back [in Minnesota], honestly. I just kind of had to be the third option.”
- “I’m a killer, man. I’m a bird that needs to fly, and I couldn’t really fly there.”
- And “[the Lakers] have a decision to make.”
Pulled out of context, these quotes are admittedly perplexing and likely infuriating for some Wolves fans. We all watched Anthony Edwards earn his spot as the No. 1 option on the Timberwolves offense through hard work in the last three seasons. DLo was still the third if not fourth option behind the LeBron James and Anthony Davis in LA, even if he got more of a green light to chuck.
Still, most of what DLo said are simply facts and explain why his departure from Minnesota was mutual. The Wolves tried to get him to play a role, and it worked. The front office showed no signs of wanting to extend DLo for the money he was asking for, and the Lakers will now have to decide whether to pay him what he wants or let him walk.
At the time of the interview, DLo’s desired contract of $100+ million per year over four years seemed fairly reasonable. Unfortunately, DLo had a tough series against the Denver Nuggets. Darvin Ham reduced his minutes because Denver hunted him on defense, and he was in a shooting slump offensively. Once again, the narrative shifted quickly from DLo is amazing, the Wolves screwed up by trading him to the Lakers to DLo can’t survive in the playoffs.
Needless to say, the internet is full of fickle fair weather fans, reactive retweeters, and people who prioritize piling on when things go wrong. I can’t blame anyone for letting their anger out, it can be cathartic. Unfortunately, taking a public victory lap in the media, even if it’s accidental or prompted by a reporter’s question, can be a dangerous game for an athlete. If you succeed, you look like a total badass. Ant told everyone that “we’re not getting swept,” and then proceeded to lead them to a victory over the Nuggets.
However, when a player “fails,” people will continue to bring up what he said every time they want to make fun of them. Paul George was on the wrong side of this early on in his career. At the end of a phenomenal regular season, a media member asked George how he would handle guarding the opponents best player in the playoffs, to which George responded “Y’all ain’t met Playoff P yet, huh?” It seemed like a mostly joking off-hand comment. But people on the internet took it out of context, as they tend to do, and have used it as a way to make fun of George ever since along with new variations like “Pandemic P.”
Perhaps DLo tried to take a leaf out of LeBron James’ book now that he’s on the Lakers. Maybe Russell was attempting to control the narrative to boost his next contract’s value by announcing to the world that he can be, and wants to be a first option on offense. Perhaps it was all just a stream of consciousness that didn’t come out perfectly. As a result, Wolves fans who just read the excerpts or didn’t get what he meant misinterpreted it.
Unfortunately, I worry that for as factual and respectful as DLo’s comments were in the interview, they may follow him for a while given the performances he had after them. Russell’s frank responses may have even hurt his bargaining position in his next contract if he wants to stay with the Lakers or hunt for a title elsewhere.
However, most playoff teams already have at least one or two max players who have been successful enough to get their respective teams to the playoffs. Therefore, DLo would be unlikely to jump them in the offensive pecking order if they already have established chemistry and success. Furthermore, many of these teams likely wouldn’t be looking to make him a giant contract offer in free agency; they likely have a ton of salary on their books already. Teams that may have wanted to pay him to be a sixth man or a high-end role player may now be scared away by his desire to be free to play his own way if they already have a system in place.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to get the contract he wants, the freedom he wants, or possibly even both with the right team. DLo is a floor raiser in the regular season. He was also a good veteran leader for almost everyone on the Wolves outside of Rudy Gobert. All the young players liked him. Perhaps a team with extra cap space looking to get a veteran point guard to help their young players could put an offer on the table that satisfies his desires, and also offer him a steady diet of shots. The Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs have the potential to offer a mutually beneficial situation.
Like any good but streaky player, D’Angelo Russell can be the best player on the court and almost single-handedly win you a game on the right night. However, he can also shoot a team out of the game on an off-night. Still, teams have to let DLo be DLo to get the best out of him, and I fully expect some team to do that this offseason. Confidence fuels most shooters. To maintain that confidence, shooters have to keep shooting even if they are in a slump.
For Wolves fans, the moral of the story is that you can’t tell a shooter not to shoot, you can’t tell a hooper not to hoop, and you can’t tell a bird not to fly without expecting to get casually shit on when you finally let them spread their wings. It’s just part of the natural order of the universe.
