Lakers News: How D'Angelo Russell Got Thwarted By LA Brass At Presser
Los Angeles Lakers starting point guard D'Angelo Russell has had an erratic start to his first playoff run with LA.
It appears that there is at least some (okay, not very major) tension behind-the-scenes between Russell and the Lakers' organization too, though it would be silly to read this as having any kind of bearing on, say, Russell's free agent future with the franchise this summer.
Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic reports that Russell got into it a bit with LA's associate director of media relations Ta’Nisha Cooper during D-Lo's Game 3 postgame presser in the team's ongoing first round matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Lakers won that game after leading wire-to-wire, but Russell had a relatively inefficient scoring night, nabbing 17 points on just 5-of-14 shooting from the floor, while chipping in seven assists, four rebounds and a steal.
Russell was showing off a Coco5 sports drink next to his microphone while at the podium preparing to field reporter inquiries.
Phoenix Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker serves as the brand ambassador and majority owner of Coco5, and his friend (and fellow Kentucky alum) Russell is an investor.
"That drink, it’s not one of our partners,” Cooper protested. The Lakers' official sports drink is BioSteel, while the NBA's official sports drink is of course Gatorade.
“My partner," Russell responded. “You’re going to have to fine me.”
Russell then moved the beverage away from Cooper and gave it a quick plug to reporters ("Look, Coco5!") before she grabbed the bottle from him.
Upon hearing about this exchange, Booker offered his own thoughts, per Rankin.
“I think it was a good turnout,” Booker said. “It gave it more light than it would've if (the bottle) just sat there."
The two Coco5 investors could conceivably compare their notes about their struggles promoting the product in these playoffs if their teams both advance to the Western Conference Finals, but we'd be very much getting ahead of ourselves in projecting that kind of an encounter. Let's see if the Lakers can close out their series against Memphis first. The Suns are up 3-1 against a Clippers team that will be without stars Kawhi Leonard or Paul George for a must-win Game 5, so I think it's pretty safe to punch Phoenix's ticket to the next round.
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