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It’s hard to imagine the Nets doing something markedly better as an organization than the Lakers.
D’Angelo Russell feels otherwise.
The current Mavericks guard took a jab at the Lakers’ culture during his early years with the team while praising how much his time in Brooklyn shaped him as a player whose maturity was questioned early in his career.
Russell spent two stints with the Lakers, the first after being drafted second overall by the team in 2015. He lasted just two years, in which Los Angeles went a combined 45-99 under coaches Byron Scott and Luke Walton, before being traded to the Nets for Kyle Kuzma and Brook Lopez.
He appeared to blame his lack of success during those seasons on the Lakers not teaching him what it meant to be a pro.
“The organization of Brooklyn is different,” Russell said while speaking with Dwyane Wade on the Wy Network on Tuesday. “It’s unlike any other. The performance, team, coach — everything about Brooklyn is different than what you would expect. And I’ve been around the league, where I came from the Lakers, where the structure is not the same.”
The former Montverde star admitted that he used to approach the game — when he was 19 and 20 years old — in a way that was nonchalant. That changed when he got to the Nets, playing two seasons under coach Kenny Atkinson.
Russell made his lone All-Star team in Brooklyn during the 2018-19 season as he averaged 21.1 points and seven assists. The Nets went 42-40 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2014-15.
“Then I got to Brooklyn, where it’s all structure, and it taught me how to be a professional,” Russell said, stressing the word professional. “I always approached the game to where I was nonchalant, and I felt like I could just wing it. They taught me how to be a professional, how to sleep, how to eat, how to recover.”
He is about to start his 11th season in the league, which includes second stints with the Nets and Lakers.
Russell signed a two-year, $11.6 million contract with the Mavericks in the offseason and joins a team that has Anthony Davis and No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg.
“That’s why I’m still playing to this day,” he said of his time with the Nets. “I’m not a guy that’s athletic, I had to take care of my body, I had to recover, I had to eat the best way. I couldn’t just show up. And that’s what Brooklyn really taught me.”
