A few months ago, Los Angeles Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell was nearing an exit from the team due to bad form. His early season was really not that great, to the point he was getting benched to close the game and even chastised by fans all around the Crypto.com Arena. Now, D’Angelo Russell has the Lakers record for most threes in a single season with 183, surpassing the great late Kobe Bryant and tying with Nick Van Exel.
DLo has been playing lights out since January. His minutes per game increased from 25.7 to 34.7 and his stats sky-rocketed. Since January, D’Angelo Russell has averaged 21.3 ppg, 6.7 APG, and 3.0 RPG in 32 games. Just for context, in his one All-Star season in Brooklyn in 2018, he averaged 21.1 ppg, 7.0 apg, and 3.9 rpg. Those numbers are exactly the same, DLo is back at his best.
D’Angelo Russell Holds The Lakers Record For Most Threes in a Season
In Lakers town, everything that involves Kobe Bryant is pretty much sacred. Widely regarded as the greatest Laker of all time, Kobe is held to the highest standards when it comes to the Purple & Gold. He was second in three-pointers in a single season with 182 threes. As for Russell, he entered the March 18th game vs the Hawks with 177 triples.
He proceeded to destroy Atlanta nailing 6/10 three-point attempts to score 27 points in a 31-point blowout win. With this, not only did DLo surpass Kobe, but he also tied the Lakers’ record holder, Nick Van Exel at 183. Now, Van Exel did it in 80 games in the 1994-1995 season, where he took 6.4 threes per game, hitting the net on 36% of them.
Russell just tied that record on 64 games played. This means eventually, he will easily break it and make it a hard one to eventually surpass. DLo is shooting 6.8 threes per game, similar to what Van Exel did back in the day, but he is scoring them on a much higher 42%.
D’Angelo Russell is Key to the Lakers’ Success
Not only is D’Angelo Russell cementing his name in the Lakers’ history books by holding a franchise record, but he also is key for the Lakers going forward this season. At the time of writing, the Lakers are 9th in the Western Conference. This means they would be going to the Play-In Tournament. They have been a rollercoaster all season long, and to be fair, they are not the most cohesive team in the NBA. It’s an up-and-down experience. On their best night, the Lakers can beat anyone. At their worst, they can get embarrassed by the goddamn San Antonio Spurs.
So, while LeBron is looking to start a podcast with JJ Redick, D’Angelo Russell is out there balling and tying the Lakers record for most threes scored in a season. He’s hoping to make an impact strong enough to help LePodcast and The Brow to make a deep playoff run. They are a thin squad, using majorly a 10-man rotation post All-Star Break. Everyone needs to execute in their role.
While LeBron and AD dominate most of the categories like points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, Russell is the team’s best perimeter threat. He also has the third-best FT% of players with more than 10 games played. He is also third on the usage rate of players with more than 110 minutes played in the season. If the Lakers want to contend, D’Angelo Russell needs to keep this hot streak going.
About the Author
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1 Comment
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