The Lakers beat the Pelicans 139-122 at home. After the game, Lakers coach Darvin Ham was interviewed.
Asked if the team had encouraged D'Angelo Russell, Ham said: "yes, I think a lot of times, when we tell people that we're good enough in the dressing room, we just need to get fit and full squad. His performance, his start to the season, he's had a little bit of a tough time and that's what every player goes through, especially when you're a scorer, you get a dip every now and then. But to give him credit, he continues to polish his game and keep working hard. I know I've encouraged him to be aggressive, and I've asked me how I can help him.
He's organising the offense, he's calling tactics, we're talking about tactics with each other, and between me and him, and there's LeBron [James], Phil [Handy], AR (Austin Reaves), and we're all trying to make sure we're playing organised. I'll give him freedom, he'll look at me and give me a thumbs up and tell me he's got a tactic planned or something. He does this during dead-ball timeouts and free throws. So it's about giving him that freedom, and myself, the coaching staff, his team-mates are constantly encouraging him to be aggressive. I think he's in great shape, he's also a very hard worker, he's been training constantly, he's put in a lot of training. He asks all the right questions in the video conference, and you can tell that he is focused, relying on his training results, and not feeling sorry for himself.