D’Angelo Russell opens up on being traded to Nets: ‘It’s a good feeling’

Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

D’Angelo Russell will soon have a chance to kick off his second stint playing for the Brooklyn Nets organization. The Nets will take on the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, and Russell is available to play in that contest.

Just days after Russell was dealt from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Nets in a trade that sent Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton to Los Angeles, he spoke to the media and implied that it will be a smooth transition for him because of the time he spent playing in Brooklyn previously.

Russell spent the third and fourth years of his NBA career with the Nets after he began his time in the pros with the Lakers. His second season in Brooklyn was a lot more successful than his first as a Net.

He made the jump from productive starting point guard to All-Star caliber player in the 2018-19 campaign. Russell averaged 21.1 points and 7.0 assists per game that season and helped the Nets to a playoff appearance.

But Russell hasn’t averaged 20-plus points per contest since the 2019-20 campaign, and he got off to a rough start to this season with the Lakers. He averaged a career-low 12.4 points per game across 29 contests played with Los Angeles before he was dealt to Brooklyn.

Maybe a fresh start with the Nets will do wonders for his career. At the very least, it’s evident based on how the Nets have fared on offense lately that Brooklyn might benefit a lot from his scoring chops.

The Nets have scored under 100 points in three of their past five contests heading into Wednesday’s matchup. Notably, Brooklyn mustered just 87 points on 38.9 percent shooting from the field against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 27.

Here’s hoping that Russell will show out against a Raptors team that is porous on the defensive side of the ball. Toronto’s defensive rating this season of 116.9 ranks 26th out of the 30 teams in the league. Moreover, the Raptors recently gave up 125 points in a loss to the Boston Celtics on Dec. 31.