Magic won't dwell on Russell trade: 'When I say bye, that's it'

It wasn't easy for the Los Angeles Lakers and president Magic Johnson to move former second overall pick D'Angelo Russell, as he had a great deal of upside on a roster building around its youth.

Now that he's gone, though, Johnson isn't giving the trade a second thought.

"I am not one of them dudes," he said when asked if it was hard for him to move on after trading Russell, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "When I say bye, that's it. I keep moving. I can't get caught in emotions and all that. That is not who I am. We moved and we kept moving. After that trade we went on to the next thing.

"Like five teams called for D'Angelo, (so) we knew that we could move D'Angelo for one of the pieces that we were looking for. So we decided on Brooklyn, they got a great player in D'Angelo and we got what we wanted."

Just days before the 2017 draft, it was reported that the Lakers would be sending Russell and the $54 million in salary owed to Timofey Mozgov to the Nets in exchange for the expiring contract of 7-footer Brook Lopez and the rights to No. 27 pick Kyle Kuzma, who went on to be the Summer League final MVP.

With the Lakers set to take UCLA's Lonzo Ball at No. 2, it became clear Russell was running on borrowed time. When Ball was introduced to the media the next day, Magic said the team was in need of a leader - a veiled shot at Russell, whose character was brought into question multiple times during his two-year run.