Lakers News: Pundit Believes D'Angelo Russell's Tradable Deal Could Work To His Advantage

He will likely keep his starting role!

Your Los Angeles Lakers have an interesting point guard situation on their hands... just like they seemingly always do. It could be argued that the Lakers have been playing their best over the past couple of years when LeBron James is the primary ball-handler and he's running his two-man action with Anthony Davis but let's be real, he's getting up there in age.

There is a reason he pushed for that Russell Westbrook blockbuster trade in the first place and why he also wanted Kyrie Irving. He can only handle the load of running the offense for so long at this point in his career so when D'Angelo Russell touched back down in the city and looked great at first, it was a dream come true. His WCF struggles left a bad taste in fans mouth so LA opted to sign Gabe Vincent during the summer instead of bringing back their feisty guard in Dennis Schroder.

Vincent was essentially the polar opposite of Russell last year as he thrived in the postseason and struggled during the regular season. But he has proven to be a winner and leader and comes from a humble background seeing that he went undrafted back in 2018.

It has been reported by Jovan Buha of The Athletic that training camp will be where LA's coaching staff assesses who will be their starting point guard on opening night but when you consider that Russell is on a tradable contract, Buha thinks that could work to his advantage.

"Russell has a slight advantage since he’s the incumbent starter, he’s making more money (that always factors in, to some extent), and the Lakers need to maintain his trade value to preserve the possibility of moving him at the 2024 trade deadline."

(Via The Athletic)

LA probably will want Russell on the court as much as possible for a multitude of reasons. Outside of their Nuggets series, he is definitely one of their better three-point shooters and he is an excellent passer all-around. 

Unfortunately, they also will want his value to be as high as possible in case they do decide to deal him away once the deadline rolls around.