Los Angeles Lakers president Magic Johnson had seen all he needed to from D'Angelo Russell as the team's starting point guard, and was prepared to hand the reigns over to No. 2 overall pick Lonzo Ball, who he feels is a more natural leader and facilitator.
Shortly after trading Russell to the Brooklyn Nets, Johnson took a parting shot at the 21-year-old for his apparent inability to be the leader he required. To this day, Russell doesn't understand why the Hall of Famer said what he said.
"I didn't know what the reason behind it was. I'm off your hands. I have nothing to do with you, I'm on a new team. I didn't understand the comment, I still don't," Russell said on The Woj podcast.
"Like I said before, he's still one of the best point guards to ever play the game, and for him to say anything about me I can just run with it. If it's negative, if it's positive, whatever he has to say about me, it's something I can just run with and make the best out of it."
During the news conference to introduce Ball, Johnson praised Russell by saying he has the talent to one day be an All-Star, but followed that up by adding how he wanted a guard who would make others around him better, and could entice free agents to want to compete alongside him.
Rather than get into a verbal war, Russell is choosing to move forward and leave the past in the past.
"What does it look like me going back and forth with Magic Johnson? I'm not going to win that, so I never once looked at it like that," he added. "It's nothing I can do about that."
Russell has shown he can excel at scoring (averaging 15.6 points in 28.7 minutes last season), but hasn't carried that over to his passing, as he turns the ball over far too often (2.6 through two seasons) for his paltry assist numbers.
- With h/t to Silver Screen and Roll
