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Lou Williams: Journalists 'should be ashamed' for suggesting he froze out Russell

Rob Carr / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Amid reports that Los Angeles Lakers players are "isolating" rookie point guard D'Angelo Russell for recording and posting an incriminatory video of teammate Nick Young without Young's consent, ESPN's Tom Haberstroh investigated the Lakers' most recent game for evidence.

Haberstroh's big finding was that in six minutes of shared floor time, Lakers shooting guard Lou Williams didn't once pass to Russell. Williams was quick to let Haberstroh and ESPN know how he felt about that line of investigative reporting.

There was only one play that stuck out during that six-minute stretch in which Williams could've reasonably been accused of deliberately looking Russell off.

Williams had been thwarted by Gordon Hayward on a drive to the hoop and pulled his dribble back to the short corner. With five seconds left on the shot clock, Russell made a heads-up cut toward the middle of the floor.

Williams instead sailed a pass to Kobe Bryant, who was standing a good six feet behind the 3-point line, and this is the shot that ensued:

In fairness to Williams, he had a very small window in which to hit Russell on his way to the hoop and he may not have believed he could've threaded a pass without Hayward deflecting it.

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