D’Angelo Russell doesn’t seem too excited that the Los Angeles Lakers will have the chance to draft UCLA’s Lonzo Ball with the second overall pick in this year’s draft.
And he’s not afraid to show it.
Sort of.
Russell liked a tweet that said there was “no way in hell” the Lakers should draft Ball:
Look at Dlo's latest like… pic.twitter.com/Skiv8GalNq
— Jag (@JagannathMrtn) May 24, 2017
There’s a chance this doesn’t mean what it, at first glance, seems to mean. The tweet Russell liked is more about propping himself up than tearing down Ball. Said “Beck Daddy” is just in awe of Russell’s highlights, it seems, which leads him to believe the Lakers have no need for Ball.
And that’s a pretty fair take. While Los Angeles’ head coach, Luke Walton, believes that Russell can excel playing off the ball, he’s at his best dominating the action. Sprinkling Ball into an offense that includes him and also Jordan Clarkson might be overkill.
Ball knocked down 41.2 percent of his three-pointers at UCLA, so he has the tools to spot-up around Russell. But do the Lakers want to reconfigure the backcourt pecking order yet again? Maybe Russell is dreading that. Or perhaps he’s worried he’ll be traded if Ball joins the squad. Or maybe he just accidentally “liked” this tweet while doing a daily search for his name.
Assuming this isn’t an erroneous “like,” you can understand where he’s coming from. Next time, though, he should probably keep his endorsement of takes like these to himself, if only so people like me don’t have the opportunity to write about it.
