Lakers News: D'Angelo Russell Has LA Fans Pining For Russell Westbrook
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Your Los Angeles Lakers' 119-108 loss to the Denver Nuggets last night put their Western Conference Finals series on the brink, as LA now falls to an 0-3 deficit against Denver.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment for LA has been starting point guard D'Angelo Russell, whose $31.4 million annual salary belies the cold hard reality that Dennis Schröder probably needs to start in his stead for however long this series continues.
For the series, Russell is averaging seven points on 29.6% shooting from the floor (14.3% shooting from long range) and four assists. The Nuggets have made no secret about the fact that they are perpetually exploiting him on defense, while he has given them nothing to fear on offense.
He's been so confounding that he has NBA fans pining for the days of another point guard named Russell in the Lakers' past, one Russell Westbrook.
Sure, Beastbrook might have been just a little biased. But his sentiment was not unique.
One fan imagined Westbrook breaking into song while hate-watching the Conference Finals (let's be real, he's not watching this series):
We also got treated to some press conference Westbrook side eye:
Another fan jokingly pled with Westbrook to return to LA mid-playoffs (not a possible thing, by the way):
Westbrook couldn't get much worse than Russell's three points on 1-of-8 shooting from the floor, four assists (against three turnovers) and three rebounds.
Westbrook actually did have a solid playoff run with the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging 23.6 points on .410/.357/.880 shooting splits, 7.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals a night. He was at his most Westbrook-ian, having assumed full control of LA's offense by the end of the club's five-game first round series loss against the starrier Phoenix Suns, thanks in large part to the injury absences of Clippers All-Stars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
He also played unbelievable defense against Suns All-Star Devin Booker at times, and actually made clutch plays late in games, a feat he almost never accomplished as a Laker:
That doesn't mean he wasn't an absolutely miserable fit on the Lakers, not just because his shooting at the time was in the toilet, but also because of just how much cap space his salary occupied. Los Angeles would absolutely not have made the Western Conference Finals with Westbrook still clogging up $47.1 million on its books.
D'Angelo Russell is having a brutal series, there's no denying that. As a solid floor-spacer and decent passer, he's generally a better fit alongside Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But his terrible play in this series, when LA absolutely needs him most, might spell the end of his second tenure with the team.
Darvin Ham very well might at long last start Dennis Schröder (who himself isn't quite at the level of a traditional starting point guard) in his stead on Monday, although that's going to be too little, too late.
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