After winning the midseason championship, the Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks, which makes people reflect that the Lakers won the championship with James and thick eyebrows gritting their teeth, yes, in a win-win game, no team can compare with the Lakers' physical hardness and experience, but after all, the season is long, and James is full of iron and can hit a few nailsTherefore, the Lakers still want to trade Russell in exchange for the third star next to Zhan Mei.
According to the latest report from Los Angeles Times' Dan Woike, "Although the Lakers have achieved good results and become the champion of the first mid-season tournament, the Lakers management still has some dissatisfaction with the team's lineup, and according to relevant sources within the team, the Lakers management intends to put D'Angelo." Russell put on the shelf, making him a roster reinforcement trade chip. ”
Russell has played 30 minutes this season and has 162 points 32 rebounds 63 assists and shot 479% and 40% three-point shooting. Although from the perspective of basic data, Russell, as an athlete who has been an All-Star, is not better than the previous season, but Russell sacrificed some ball possession next to James and thick eyebrows, and his performance also has bright spots.
In terms of offensive efficiency, although Russell's average points per game have dropped, his shooting percentage has been a career-high since he came to the Lakers in the middle of last season, and his three-point shooting percentage has never exceeded 40% before.
From the perspective of offensive organization, as a point guard, Russell has always had relatively good assist statistics, averaging 6Three assists isn't the highest, but it's compared to the 7 assists per game average in 2018-191 turnover, 7 per game in the 2021-22 season1 assist, 2With 5 turnovers, Russell is averaging just 1Eight turnovers, also the best performance of his career.
From the perspective of defensive performance, Russell's defensive willingness has improved significantly this season, and he hopes to improve his defensive performance in a strong team, of course, Russell does not have particularly excellent defensive speed and defensive experience, but he can become a passing defensive player with his height and arm span in the No. 1 position.
Although Russell does not have the ability to play a tough game, the current Lakers still need James and thick eyebrows to attack tough battles, and Russell's role is to let James and thick eyebrows reduce excessive consumption in the regular season and play their offensive strengths in some abusive games. For example, in the game against the Detroit Pistons this season, Russell scored 35 points, 4 rebounds and 9 assists, shooting 13 of 17 from the field and 5 of 7 from three-point range, which is the best proof of this, which is what the Lakers need most.
If the third star really comes, not to mention the team's run-in and ball distribution, when it comes to the critical moment, will the third star be given to handle the ball?It's still up to James to deal with it, and the Lakers' ceiling is James, so the Lakers don't need to bring in other stars, and having Russell and Reaves at key moments is enough.
In the latest report from Lakers reporter Arash Markazi, referring to the interview with James, in which he talked about the team's intention to trade Russell, James said: " It's really incredible, Russell is an integral part of the team and he's given a lot to the team, I didn't expect the management to make that decision, but when we're in this environment, we just have to be realistic and wait for the facts, as players we can't change the management's mind, but I still hope the management will think about it. ”
Obviously, James also did not agree with the Lakers to make a trade, and has stood up to stop it, after the trade of Wei Shao, James has obviously better understood what the team really needs, and this time he really doesn't want the Lakers to continue to toss around.