The Los Angeles Lakers have made the headlines for their alleged interest in acquiring Dejounte Murray while trading away D’Angelo Russell. Amidst the anticipation surrounding the scenario, Gilbert Arenas disagreed with the potential decision. The former NBA All-star candidly expressed his thoughts in the latest episode of Gil’s Arena and gave some names, that Lakers can trade instead of D’Lo.
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“Leave D’Lo to get Baby Boy? How does that solve our problems?” the 42-year-old declared during the podcast. The co-panellist Rashad McCants joined the conversation soon after, highlighting, “Baby Boy plays defense at the point guard position”.
“I don’t need no more defense,” Arenas stated countering the 39-year-old.
Following this McCants highlighted the stat line of Murray, claiming, “You are getting points, rebounds, and assists” before adding, “21-5-5, bring him on”. Despite this, Arenas refused to change his stance, putting into limelight the difference between the roles of the NBA players. “My 16 is your 20, so there is no real improvement,” he mentioned.
Yet, the 3x All-Star admitted that the Lakers required a change to specifically enhance the potency of their offense. So, he brought forward a different proposition, stating, “Now if you’re saying we keep D’Lo, we get rid of Rui [Hachimura], Jarred Vanderbilt, and Cam [Reddish] to get another person that will help us? Yes”.
The entire interaction captured the divergence in fan perspective wonderfully. While McCants demanded the franchise to sign a more consistent performer, Arenas trusted his eye test method of judgment. While one wanted the Lakers to bring in a two-way guard, another asked for a better offensive player on the roster. In the end, both of them stood firm on their stance as they planned the success path for the LA side in their rights.
Considering the stat, Arenas is not completely wrong here. D’Angelo Russell is averaging 16.3 points, and 6.1 assists while featuring for 29.7 minutes per game on average. However, Murray is playing 34.7 minutes per game and is averaging 21.1 points and 5 assists. So, it would be a better option to trade Rui or Cam Reddish who have been averaging 11.1 and 6.6 points per game respectively and are finding it hard to deliver from the bench.
What does the future hold for D’Angelo Russell?
After the team’s recent game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the 27-year-old became emotional in the post-match conference. Reflecting on a fast-break where he threw a bounce pass lob to LeBron James, the point guard mentioned, “Never thought I would be able to throw a bounce pass lob to LeBron James in the game”.
Following this, James showcased respect for the Kentucky-born’s gameplay from his Instagram story. Praising the 2019 All-Star’s 34-point performance on the night, the 4x champion wrote, “That boy 9Lo been in his bag! Keep loading bro”.
Amidst the rumours thus, the team chemistry has seemingly remained unfazed. Russell also has immensely improved his form in the last five matches, averaging 27.2 points per game and 6.4 assists per game while shooting 56% from the field and 53.7% from behind the arc. So, the Lakers might postpone their decision for a bit as the fans await an improvement in results.
