D'Angelo Russell Describes How Kobe Bryant Shutdown Damian Lillard His Rookie Season

D'Angelo Russell acknowledged his rookie season with the Lakers in 2015-2016 season, he was starstruck by superstars Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Damian Lillard.

During a game against Portland that year, he was tasked with guarding Lillard.

It didn't go so well.

"This dude pulls up, deep-ball three," Russell said on "The Old Man and The Three" podcast with J.J. Redick and Tommy Alter. "Come down, foul on me, and-one. Look up, deep-ball three. Another one, another one."

Bryant, who was in his final season in the NBA, was not pleased with what was happening. And he made that abundantly clear to Russell.

"They called timeout. Kob' looks at me and was like, 'What do you want, the motherf---er to have 50?'" Russell recalled.

Bryant eventually decided to take over the defensive assignment.

Russell, after shaking off some embarrassment, watched what happened in awe.

"First of all, that was my welcome to the NBA moment, just Dame having, f---ing having a, I don’t even know what he had," Russell said. "But then seeing Kob' guard him and just beat him up, basically. They weren’t letting Kob' foul out that game, one, and he just beat him up. He probably had 50 on me, and at the end of the game he probably had 50. Kob' just shut it down. I watched the refs kinda let Kob' beat the s--- out of him to do it."

Bryant, a five-time NBA champion over his 20-season career with the Lakers, retired in 2016. He died in a helicopter crash Jan. 26 alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people.

Russell said he took so much away from the one season he had with Bryant.

He was initially hesitant to ask Bryant questions, worried he'd come across the wrong way. But eventually he put himself out there, and Bryant responded by giving him detailed explanations and descriptions that helped him navigate the league.

Russell said that with every interaction he had on and off the court that season, he'd think about how Bryant would handle the situation and act accordingly.

"Just throughout that year, man, I got to be a sponge on everything I saw and everything he taught me," Russell said. "It was a hell of an experience. But it was sad just that it had to go like that. We had a relationship -- I'm sure other players had that relationship as well -- that you wanted to build on."