{"id":70956,"date":"2024-03-28T10:53:12","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T14:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=70956"},"modified":"2024-03-28T10:53:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T14:53:12","slug":"dangelo-russell-reveals-mindset-heading-into-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/28\/dangelo-russell-reveals-mindset-heading-into-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"D’Angelo Russell Reveals Mindset Heading into Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even though the Lakers have won their fifth straight game, there\u2019s no denying that some players are still thinking about their futures. In an interview with HoopsHype, star guard D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/a> recently discussed his mindset heading into the offseason, including whether or not he\u2019d want to stay in the purple and gold.<\/span><\/p>\n

D’Angelo Russell Reveals Mindset Heading into Free Agency<\/b><\/h2>\n

Russell\u2019s Comments<\/b><\/h3>\n

Russell has been on a tear this season, so it\u2019s no surprise that several teams will be eyeing him when free agency opens up this summer. He <\/span>spoke to Mike Scotto<\/span><\/a> on the pressure of playing in a contract year:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI<\/span>t\u2019s something that can eat a lot of people up in the league. A lot of people can be too high at times and too low at times, which causes an emotional roller coaster through the ups and downs of the season. For me, I wanted to control that. I wanted to stay sane and stay even-keeled through the ups and the downs.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The fact that he kept that mentality while <\/span>in the middle of trade rumors<\/span><\/a> is another encouraging factor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russell also acknowledged his desire to remain a Laker next season, which is notable given the $18.7 million Player Option on the table. He told HoopsHype:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I\u2019d love to be here and continue to give it a run and be where my feet are now. Obviously, I\u2019ve been on the other side of it, and I\u2019ve been through the roller coaster of free agency and having to sit back and wait. I\u2019m looking forward to not having to worry about that. I\u2019ve been blessed enough to put myself in this position with my play. I\u2019m definitely planning on taking advantage of that. When that time comes, I feel that everything will play out how it\u2019s supposed to play out.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 67 games, the 6-foot-3 guard has averaged 18.3 points, 6.4 assists and 3 rebounds per game on .463\/.425\/.824 splits. He also etched his name into Laker history, becoming the <\/span>franchise\u2019s leader in three-pointers made for a season<\/span><\/a> with 197 and counting.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Russell\u2019s Mentality Means for the Lakers<\/b><\/h3>\n

Russell\u2019s position, from playing his way out of trade rumors to setting a season record, bodes very well for the Lakers. After several years, the team has found the perfect point guard next to LeBron James<\/a> and Anthony Davis<\/a>. Russell has shown he can complement the Lakers\u2019 superstar duo perfectly and proved he can take over when one or both of them are out. The fact that he is eager to return next season\u2014even when he could have multiple suitors in free agency\u2014is promising for both the Lakers and their fanbase. For all the talk about getting <\/span>Kyrie Irving<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Trae Young<\/span><\/a>, D\u2019Lo has put those rumors to rest and appears to be LA\u2019s guy going forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s too early to tell what LA\u2019s cap space will look like\u2014or <\/span>if they\u2019ll have any at all<\/span><\/a>\u2014depending on the decisions of Russell and James, among others<\/a>. Still, D\u2019Lo\u2019s desire to come back could give the Lakers one less problem to worry about this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even though the Lakers have won their fifth straight game, there\u2019s no denying that some players are still thinking about their futures. In an interview with HoopsHype, star guard D\u2019Angelo Russell recently discussed his mindset heading into the offseason, including whether or not he\u2019d want to stay in the purple and gold. D’Angelo Russell Reveals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":70959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62],"tags":[240,307,406,38,297,1349],"class_list":["post-70956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-dangelo-russell","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-trae-young"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}