With the Los Angeles Lakers finally making their highly anticipated mid-season trade, D’Angelo Russell is set to return to the Brooklyn Nets, where he previously earned his only All-Star appearance. The 2018-19 season was a memorable one for Russell and the Nets as it signaled a turning of the tides for both parties.
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After two highly successful seasons in New York, D’Lo played in Golden State and Minnesota before returning to Los Angeles via trade in February 2023. His second stint in LA saw him produce at a much higher level, showcasing his growth since his sophomore season. And since much of his development took place in Brooklyn, fans are wondering if the 28-year-old can revive his career with Joe Tsai’s side.
D’Lo first became a Laker after being selected 2nd overall in the 2015 NBA Draft. He finished the year as a member of the All-Rookie Second Team, and that would unfortunately set the pace for the rest of his tenure in Los Angeles. Over two seasons, Russell averaged 14.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4 assists on pretty respectable shooting splits.
However, it wouldn’t be enough to earn the trust of the Lakers brass, who decided to move in a different direction by shipping him off to the Nets in exchange for Brook Lopez. D’Lo was relieved at the time as he was facing mounting pressure to become a leader for the Purple and Gold.
“No matter what you’ve been through or what’s going on ahead, a fresh start’s always good,” the then-21-year-old commented. Russell would take his fresh start and run with it, dismissing all the criticisms he had accrued as a Laker.
D’Angelo Russell helped the Nets find a new identity
Ahead of the 2018-19 season, Bleacher Report predicted that Brooklyn would be a sub-3o win team. And given the talent on the roster — primarily rotational players like Spencer Dinwiddie, Ed Davis, Joe Harris, Caris Levert, and a sophomore Jarrett Allen — it wasn’t a far-fetched estimation of their record.
However, what few pundits and fans saw coming was the revitalization of D’Lo’s career. The young point guard had missed most of his first season in Brooklyn due to a knee injury but when he did return for the latter half of the 2017-18 campaign, Russell was already showing glimpses of what was to come.
He recorded his first career triple-double after recovering from injury and became the first Nets player since Vince Carter in 2005 to score 24 points in a single quarter. The following season, with a clean bill of health, D’Lo played the best basketball of his career.
He averaged 21.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists to earn his first All-Star selection and first Player of the Week honors. And it wasn’t just his individual numbers that benefitted. Brooklyn made the postseason for the first time since 2014-15, finishing the year with 42 wins and the sixth seed.
The roster had rallied around Russell and seemed to play with an excitement that was infectious. Theo Pinson’s iconic celebrations from the bench went viral. Fans found themselves genuinely enjoying watching the Nets play basketball. What made them a must-watch team was their ability to beat anybody on any given night.
On March 19th, 2019, Brooklyn faced Sacramento in what would become D’Lo’s best game as a Net. The Kings entered the fourth quarter with a commanding 25-point lead. But their opponents had no superstars to bench, so they continued to compete during the final 12 minutes.
Russell scored 16 straight points to lead a 45-18 quarter, finishing the night with a then-career-high 44 points. The spirit and attitude of that 2018-19 roster were on show in this comeback game. It was a dream scenario for Brooklyn, who had suffered endlessly following their trade for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in 2013. Suddenly, without any real superstars, the team witnessed a new culture generated around Kenny Atkinson and his star player, D’Lo.
Not only was Russell the centerpiece of the team’s offense, but he was also very much at the center of their dynamic, putting to bed all qualms about his reputation as a poor teammate. Fans were happy to forgive him for his locker room incident involving Nick Young and were hoping for a new era of Nets basketball spearheaded by the young point guard.
Is this a second chance for Brooklyn and Russell?
Instead of zoning in on their young and developing core though, the Nets jumped the gun on their rebuild and signed the biggest available free agents in the 2019-20 off-season. They recognized that D’Lo’s All-Star campaign had skyrocketed his value on the market and used him in the sign-and-trade deal for Kevin Durant while signing Kyrie Irving out of free agency.
The move completely accelerated the Nets’ rebuild process and forced D’Angelo into a win-now environment. He was tasked with being a secondary ball-handler behind Stephen Curry, and though he scored at a high level during his brief stint in San Francisco, his playstyle wouldn’t fit in. 33 games into his stint, Russell would once again be traded, this time to Minnesota.
After three seasons with the Wolves, Russell returned to Los Angeles last year as an additional scoring option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, this year, the 28-year-old has played very limited minutes for the Lakers. Due to his ball dominance, Russell was relegated to the bench and though he did perform well as a spark plug, it has also led to the lowest points per game average of his entire career.
Now, returning to Brooklyn as a more mature and efficient point guard, can D’Lo form an effective frontcourt alongside Cam Thomas? Will he be able to take advantage of the injury-riddled Eastern Conference and nab his second All-Star appearance?
Let’s take a look at the player he is replacing in order to understand what his ceiling could be. Before he was traded to the Warriors, Dennis Schroder was the Nets’ primary point guard and he benefited greatly from their rebuild. In 23 games, Schroder averaged 18.7 points and 4 assists in 33.6 minutes of action.
Compare that to the 26.3 minutes per game D’Lo is seeing in LA, and one can certainly expect him to boost his offensive output. The advanced stats confirm that Russell will see much more of the ball in Brooklyn.
Before his trade to Golden State, Schroder had 87.4 touches and an average time of possession of 7.9 seconds. As a sixth man in LA, D’Angelo has seen just 61 touches with his average time of possession being just 3.9 seconds. He can expect that to double in Brooklyn, though, the rebuilding Nets might not want the additional offensive firepower he can bring to the table.
Some media members are already considering a potential buyout for D’Lo, though he is talented enough to secure a few more picks for the Nets if they should decide to trade him again.
