Los Angeles Lakers News: D'Angelo Russell Gets Honest About Big Summer

Los Angeles Lakers point guard D'Angelo Russell has been on quite the tear of late. As he told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, he's doing his darnedest not to think of the reality that he can choose to opt out of his $18.7 million contract for the 2024-25 season and capitalize on his strong play with potentially a longer-term deal as an unrestricted free agent this summer.

"It's definitely pressure," Russell told Scotto. "It's 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."

Russell seemed to go on to suggest he'd like to stick around Los Angeles. But things change.

"I'd love to be here and continue to give it a run and be where my feet are now," Russell told Scotto. "Obviously, I've been on the other side of it, and I've been through the roller coaster of free agency and having to sit back and wait. I'm looking forward to not having to worry about that. I've been blessed enough to put myself in this position with my play. I'm definitely planning on taking advantage of that. When that time comes, I feel that everything will play out how it's supposed to play out."

Per Scotto, Russell has been performing well in the regular season since the birth of his son Riley, prior to the start of the 2022-23 NBA season. "Everything I do, I'd see his face," Russell told Scotto. "It's either this or that. What are you going to do? It makes my decision easy when it comes to anything. It does have a change and effect on you. It puts you in this state of mind that it's mine or I'll die for it. It's been good."

Across 137 regular season games (130 starts) in these past two seasons, Russell has averaged 18 points on .466/.409/.825 shooting splits, 6.3 assists, three rebounds, and 0.9 steals.

Last night, in a thrilling 128-124 double-overtime victory against the Milwaukee Bucks without All-Star forward LeBron James, Russell had another superlative (albeit inefficient) game. Across 50:23, he scored 29 points on 7-of-22 shooting from the floor (5-of-12 from beyond the arc) and 10-of-10 shooting from the foul line, 12 assists, seven rebounds, two steals and one block. Those triples often came off the bounce.

LA has improved to a 40-32 record on the year. The Lakers are currently the ninth seed in the Western Conference and are just three games behind the 43-29 Dallas Mavericks, who currently occupy the sixth seed in the West. LA is closing in on Dallas, having won four games in a row and seven of its last ten. Russell has been a critical part of the team's current good fortune.