After the Los Angeles Lakers started the 2024-25 NBA season hot off the block, the team lost its heat and became ice cold. Wrapping up a five-game road trip, the Lakers only managed one victory, against the Toronto Raptors. Their only win was a close one, a hard-fought 131-125 win in the six.
Following Wednesday’s loss in Memphis, first-time head coach JJ Redick was heated. Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Redick pointed out starting point guard D’Angelo Russell for his “level of competition” and “attention to detail.”
JJ Redick Cutting D’Angelo Russell Minutes Isn’t Something That Should Be Super Shocking
While Redick was upset with D’Lo’s efforts, he was quite fascinated with Lebron James’ who scored 39 points on 15-for-24 shooting.
“He’s almost 40 years old and played the hardest on our team, which says a lot about him.” However, when questioned about the team’s overall effort, he responded, “None of us are.”
Redick discussed his decision to bench D’Lo saying, “These are “some of the things we have talked with him about for a couple weeks,” Redick said. “And at times, he’s been really good with that stuff, and other times it’s just reverting back to certain habits. It wasn’t like a punishment; it just felt like, for us to have a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take. Gabe [Vincent] in the first half, defensively, was fantastic, and I just wanted to see what that looked like.”
Also Read: Anthony Davis Leads NBA In 3 Major Stats
For many Lakers fans who have seen D’Angelo Russell play, this is not surprising. The former All-Star guard has a knack for showing bursts of impressive play, only to revert back to his usual low-effort style, poor shot selection, and lackluster defense. The bigger problem is he didn’t get a good run going started at the beginning of the season.
Through just eight games he is shooting 37.5% from the field and 29.2% from downtown, averaging just 12 points and 5.8 assists with only 30 minutes played per game.
After exercising his player option this season, he’s now on an expiring contract. The Lakers could use his $18.6 million expiring contract as a bargaining chip in a trade, but he needs to step up his game to make himself more enticing for potential teams to pick him up.
With the season still young, the real question is: How will Redick handle Russell moving forward? Will he find a way to get the best out of him, or will the Lakers look elsewhere as they seek to stay competitive?