Lakers insider speculates on what team will do with D’Angelo Russell https://t.co/ouEnVHh1w4 via @Lakers Daily

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 24, 2024

Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell saw his name get thrown around in multiple reports in the months leading up to the start of the 2024-25 regular season. First, the Lakers reportedly offered to trade him to the Golden State Warriors in an attempt to land Klay Thompson, who ended up getting dealt to the Dallas Mavericks in a sign-and-trade.

Furthermore, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps reported in September that the Lakers do not view him as part of their core moving forward.

“I mean, at the end of the day, if the Lakers are going to be the championship-contending team that people want them to be, you have to have — in theory what they really need to do is turn D’Angelo Russell into a guy who can both hit threes and guard,” Bontemps said. “Austin Reaves is a guy they see clearly as a guy who’s part of their core going forward. D’Angelo Russell is not, which is why he was on this two-year makeshift deal in the first place. It’s why he opted into his contract this summer, because he knew there wasn’t gonna be a big market for his services.”

Someone asked The Athletic’s Jovan Buha after Los Angeles’ season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves if the Lakers will deal Russell, and he provided the following response.

Lakers-Wolves postgame reaction: LA opens JJ Redick era with statement win

“I think it’s too early to — I don’t wanna overreact to this game in any direction,” Buha said. “I think if anything, this game was just a confirmation of a lot of what we already knew and saw. So, I would assume that the plan is still to at least explore the D-Lo situation down the road. But I don’t know if his game necessarily swayed it really in either direction. I think it’s always kind of been if they’re gonna make a trade, he’s the one guy.

“Now, one thing I will say on this is obviously if the Lakers get out to a really good start and are just a really good team, it could go one of two ways right? You could look at it as, ‘Do we want to break this group up? Is it worth it?’ Or you could look at, ‘Okay, well we’re in a position to potentially contend, to compete for a championship. And now let’s do that win-now trade. Let’s take the big swing. Let’s put the first-round pick — or both first-round picks — on the table.’

“So, could go one of two ways. I think at a minimum, if they are looking really good and this continues, then I think you have to at least think about attaching a first-round pick to a guy like Gabe [Vincent], Vando (Jarred Vanderbilt) depending on where he’s at with his injury progress. Maybe look at some of the bench guys and say, ‘Can we upgrade with the pick and bring in another piece?’ And maybe you keep D-Lo or you shift his role depending on the type of player you bring in. So that’s one thing, but for now, I don’t think this really swings the D-Lo conversation either way.”

The Lakers beat the Timberwolves on Tuesday, but Russell looked rusty from a scoring standpoint. He finished with nine points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 from 3-point range.

There is still one positive takeaway to glean from Russell’s showing, however, and that was his impact as a playmaker. Russell dished out a team-high five assists while committing only one turnover. He was one of the Lakers’ best playmakers last season, considering he averaged 6.3 assists per game.

Lakers Won't 'Force-Feed' Bronny James Minutes at Expense of Successhttps://t.co/QSwWoNbjtR via @BleacherReport

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 24, 2024

Rookie guard Bronny James played three minutes in the Los Angeles Lakers’ season-opening win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday, but that reportedly doesn’t mean he will receive regular playing time moving forward.

According to ESPN’s Jeremy Woo, it will be a surprise if Bronny getting consistent usage “becomes the norm” since the Lakers aren’t likely to “force-feed him meaningful minutes at the expense of team success.”

Bronny, who is the son of Lakers star and NBA legend LeBron James, was selected by the Lakers with the No. 55 overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft.

Isiah Thomas thinks JJ Redick could be the new Bob Knight or Coach K: "That's what I hear in JJ" https://t.co/lQGSf4YMFO

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 24, 2024

JJ’s impressive coaching debut drew praise from many personalities, including Detroit Pistons legend and Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas.

“I look at it, and I hear Coach K, and I hear the other Coach K- Coach Knight,” said Thomas on NBA TV. “I was in the locker room with Coach K and Coach Knight in the ’79 Pan-Am Games and the teaching that he and Coach Knight have, that’s what I hear in JJ.”

Key takeaways from the Lakers opening night win over Timberwolves https://t.co/m7twlw3n7i via @yardbarker

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 24, 2024

The Lakers offense

Despite shooting a dismal 16.7% from beyond the arc on mostly open looks, L.A.’s offense clicked, tallying 22 assists while committing just seven turnovers against the Timberwolves, who boasted the league’s top-rated defense last season.

Last season, Lakers fans were frequently frustrated by the team’s tendency to shy away from the LeBron James-Anthony Davis pick-and-roll in crunch time despite it being one of the NBA’s most unstoppable offensive actions. However, in Tuesday’s game L.A.’s superstar duo stuck with the pick-and-roll, executing it repeatedly to close out the contest and seal the win.

Lakers Physicality

Head coach JJ Redick, who discussed “crash rate” on his podcast last year — a term he used to describe a team’s aggressiveness in pursuing offensive rebounds — saw one of his teaching points come to life. The Lakers made a concerted effort to dominate the glass, securing 15 offensive rebounds, a stark contrast from 2023-24 when they ranked dead last in offensive rebound percentage at 19.9%.

Redick’s strategy to emphasize second-chance opportunities was pivotal for a team like the Lakers, whose three-point shooting remains inconsistent at best. It proved to be one of the critical factors in their opening night victory.

Anthony Davis

Davis was the player of the game, putting on a two-way clinic with 36 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. His energy was constant, and he played with the vibe of someone you can count on down the stretch.

Yet after all these weeks in which Redick has talked about his plans to run so much of his offense t… https://t.co/E7lypU8eWh via @hoopshype

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 24, 2024

Yet after all these weeks in which Redick has talked about his plans to run so much of his offense through Davis, while empowering him more than ever along the way, it was quite a thing to see it play out in this kind of dominant form. They have the blueprint now, and the question is whether they can repeat it on a regular basis over the course of these next six (or more) months.

“Yeah, I mean playing through me at the elbows, the post, the top of the key, I think this is what we envisioned, just making plays out of (those spots) and kind of directing the offense,” Davis said. “And the same thing defensively. Obviously, it’s going to grow and we’re going to integrate more things within that. But I think it’s a good first step of seeing how (Redick) wants me to play and how he wants me to be that hub and to orchestrate the offense, in a sense.”

For all the focus on the 39-year-old James in this Lakers era — and his 19-year-old son, Bronny, in this particular week — the 31-year-old Davis is the one who matters most to the Lakers’ uncertain future. He’s the superstar in his prime who is under contract for massive money through the 2027-28 campaign (topping out at $70.1 million). He’s the one, in addition to James, whose perspective is being taken into account by ownership and the front office when the big decisions are being made (including, as I’ve discussed, the choice to part ways with Darvin Ham and hire first-year coach JJ Redick). And he’s the one who looked capable of carrying that sort of weighty load in the opener when he went at the neck of four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

The stat line spoke for itself: 36 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal. According to Stathead.com, it was just the second time in Davis’ career (797 total games; regular season and playoffs) that he reached those particular marks. Even if you pare it down to just points and rebounds, he had gone off like this only 29 times before (3.6 percent of the time).

It was high volume (11-of-23 shooting) in ways that we don’t often see from Davis, as he hit that 23-shot mark just seven times in the entire 2023-24 campaign.

Lakers 17 Minutes Team EXTENDED Highlights vs Wolves | Opening Night

– Defensive/Offense Highlights
– JJ Redick's Huddle
– LeBron x Bronny Post Game Interview pic.twitter.com/PSsEk5hNnI

— Lakers Empire (@LakersEmpire) October 24, 2024

Aloha,

Great win for the Lakers against a team many consider a contender in the west. I know it’s just one game, but I saw what I wanted to see. The Lakers regulars didn’t play a ton together in the preseason but when they did they looked very good and this was a continuation of what I saw in preseason. Just a few thoughts.

I wrote earlier that I was warming up to JJ and that trend continued. The Lakers busted their butts and JJ was completely engaged. He even called time out to slow some of the TWolves runs, something Darvin rarely did. For a first game I thought the teams executed extremely well.

Our new offense was on full display. JJ promised to unleash AD and boy did he. 35 points and 16 boards. He could have scored even more but he missed some bunnies early that he normally makes. But it was the ball and player movement that was even more impressive. Since LeBron arrived the Lakers have been an iso heavy team. Not last night. I really like how JJ ran the offense through AD. AD had 4 assists but he had a couple of others passes that led to players getting fouled and there were missed open 3’s as well. The offensive created good looks, we were just missing. We will start making them.

The defense also shined. People seem to forget about coaching staffs. Nate McMillan is a great defensive mind and his switching defense had his fingerprints were all over the defense. We gave the TWolves multiple looks and they could never quite figure us out. Ant man had 27 but on 25 shots, he was never comfortable. We also did a great job on Randle and Reed.

And of course offensive rebounds were an emphasis and we came through big time. Austin and AD had 4 and Rui had 3. We had 3 more offensive boards and 8 fewer turnovers. We had only 7. That’s 11 more shots right there.

I thought Austin had a great game. Beyond his 9 boards his defense was very good and he just seemed to be the glue guy on offense.

Rui also had a strong game. Mister irrelevant did what he did last year after he became a starter. Did what he did in the Olympics and in preseason. 18 points. Strong defense, with 2 steals and he blocked Rudy. He generally had either Randle or Reed and neither did much.

I liked Dalton’s run. He wasn’t a liability on defense and he showed off some of his play making skills. I could see him taking minutes from Max when Vando returns.

I came into the season cautiously optimistic. Based upon how good our starting unit looked down the stretch last season and in the preseason. I’m still cautiously optimistic. Yes it was only one game but I liked what I saw.

em 3’s and we may be REAL GOOD!