During the 2023-24 season, the Los Angeles Lakers’ perimeter defense was in tatters. The guard combo of Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell failed to contain opposing guards regularly. While Reaves struggled in pick-and-roll situations, Russell wasn’t quick enough for shifty guards.
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On ESPN’s The Hoop Collective pod, Tim Bontemps argued that the Lakers are unwilling to give Russell a long-term contract because of his sub-par defensive abilities.
The ESPN insider pointed to D’Lo’s current two-year, $36 million deal with the Lakers to substantiate his argument. Russell had a player option for the 2024-25 season. Instead of testing his worth in the market, the 28-year-old opted into the second year of the deal with the Lakers.
According to Bontemps, Russell’s move acknowledged that he wouldn’t have been able to land a better contract in free agency, because of his limited defensive capabilities. The ESPN insider believes that the Lakers have only offered him a ‘makeshift contract’ like this because they do not see him as part of their core in the long run.
“At the end of the day, if the Lakers are going to be a championship-contending team that people want them to be, what they really need to do is turn D’Angelo Russell into a guy who can both hit threes and guard. Austin Reaves is clearly a guy who’s part of their core going forward, D’Angel Russell is not, which is why he was on his two-year makeshift deal in the first place.”
Bontemps believes that unless the lefty guard complements his long-range shooting with elite perimeter defense, the Los Angeles Lakers don’t stand a chance to win a title. On the other hand, he also opined that the Lakers consider Austin Reaves as their long-term guard and have no plans to invest further in Russell.
“It’s why he [D’Lo] opted into his contract this summer, because he knew there wasn’t a big market for his services,” he added.
Russell is unlikely to get a contract in the range of $18 million again. After the implementation of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement(CBA), players in their late 20s who have strong offense but sub-par defense are settling for minimum deals.
The Lakers have also shown the intention to trade D’Angelo Russell since last season. During the February deadline, he was touted as a trade piece to acquire Dejounte Murray, but things didn’t pan out in the end.
Russell’s defense has indeed been a concern. He had a defensive rating of 118.1 last season, which put him in the 14th spot among point guards. Even average defenders like Damian Lillard and Tre Jones were ahead of him in that regard.
It won’t be a surprise if Russell gets traded before the midseason deadline during the 2024-25 season.
