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*Photo via AP
Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard, D'Angelo Russell, was involved in an incident earlier this week when a video leaked of him and fellow Lakers teammate, Nick Young, having a conversation. Nick Young was describing his personal life while being taped by Russell, unknowingly of course. Young allegedly cheated on his girlfriend Iggy Azalea and the video got out of their discussion.
It has been a tough week to say the least for Russell as he's been attacked by the fans and the media by his wrongdoing. Russell violated a code that no man should and the Lakers have received bad press. The Lakers have been impacted tremendously this week, but will it continue? How will this incident impact the Lakers going forward?
D'angelo Russell is the future point guard of the Lakers. He has incredible upside and tremendous court vision for a rookie. However, he was isolated from the team after the video was released and needed a security escort following one of the Lakers practice sessions.
As a point guard of your team, the objective is to be a leader of the team and a guide on the court. The Lakers, at least for the time being, do not trust Russell and that can prove to be problematic as they are trying to rebuild themselves into playoff contenders. The Lakers got annihilated by the Utah Jazz in what was their worst loss in franchise history. If the Russell incident played any role in that loss, it would be in the Lakers best interest to trade away Russell.
*Photo via AP
If the Lakers do not believe or trust Russell anymore, than he should be moved, however, it's still early and only time can tell. If Nick Young can forgive Russell and the team can forget the incident, than it may no longer be an issue down the line. Like the saying goes, "time heals all wounds".
It's going to be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out (albeit it's almost over) and the moves made in the offseason. D'Angelo Russell is a fantastic player with tremendous upside, so it's likely that he will remain with the team.
The Lakers have a lot of problems to take care of, but this won't be one of them. Russell has apologized and after a while, things would go away. Remember this similar incident happened to Kobe Bryant earlier in his career. If Russell plays well then all will be forgotten eventually.
D'Angelo Russell should be just fine and he should remain a Laker, for now. What are your thoughts? Comment your thoughts below and thanks for reading!