D'Angelo Russell impresses, helps Timberwolves in Lakers debut
Former Minnesota Timberwolves guard D'Angelo Russell made a good impression on the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, helping his new team defeat the Golden State Warriors and helping his old team in the process.
Russell put up 15 points, five rebounds and six assists in the 109-103 win over Golden State in a battle of two of his former teams. Russell was the second overall pick by the Lakers behind Karl-Anthony Towns in the 2015 NBA Draft and played 33 games for the Warriors during the 2019-20 season before he was traded to the Timberwolves.
"It was a little weird but I'm trying to normalize it," Russell said of the game. "The sooner the better. I've been in this situation. After that first stint, you get kind of comfortable again. When you get traded so many times the irony comes back with all these teams and just kind of normalize it."
One of the key plays during the game was a layup by Dennis Schroder with 1:17 to go that gave Los Angeles a 107-101 lead. The fascinating thing about the play was that it came off the pick-and-roll, something the Timberwolves had tried to maximize with last summer's trade for Rudy Gobert.
A report from The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski earlier this week documented Russell's open frustration with Gobert, but there doesn't seem to be much frustration in the early days of his return to L.A.
"Me and D'Lo literally talked the entire game about pick-and-roll," Anthony Davis said after the game. "What he sees, what I see, what he likes, what I like...[we're] just trying to build that chemistry on the fly with no practice."
The good vibes could be stemming from the fact that Russell is in a better situation than he was during his first stint with the Lakers. After being part of a massive rebuild prior to LeBron James's arrival in 2018, Russell is now surrounded by stars in James and Davis, who had 13 points and 19 rebounds in the win over the Warriors.
But much like his days with the Timberwolves, Russell reminded everyone at his introductory press conference that he didn't see himself as a role player.
"I always feel like I'm an alpha, too," Russel said. "Whatever room I'm in, whoever I'm around, I'm going to feel like that, I'm going to walk like that and when I get out on the floor, we're going to figure that out as well...I'm going to try to fit into what they got going on and then try to figure it out from that."
Timberwolves fans may worry that they got the short end of another deal involving Russell after Andrew Wiggins turned into an All-Star after he was traded for Russell in Feb. 2020, but Russell's debut also helped Minnesota move up in the Western Conference standings.
Golden State's loss allowed the Timberwolves to move up to eighth in the Western Conference and bring them 1.5 games within the fourth seed, which includes an automatic playoff berth and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Timberwolves will hope their end of Wednesday's trade – where the Wolves acquired Mike Conley Jr. and three second-round draft picks – will pay dividends when they travel to face fellow trade deadline mover Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night.
