Magic Johnson just low-key trashed D’Angelo Russell.
The Los Angeles Lakers team president spoke briefly about why he moved the 21-year-old combo guard, and his answer can only be described as a complimentary dis. Here it is, via ESPN.com’s Baxter Holmes:
Magic Johnson on D’Angelo Russell: "We want to thank him for what he did for us. But what I needed was a leader.” Full quote: pic.twitter.com/3FhPthOpN1
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) June 23, 2017
Oh.
Imagine a 21-year-old just two seasons deep into his career playing for a shit show of a franchise not being a perfect leader. Indefensible, right?
As for players not wanting to play with Russell, this is a different story. The Nick Young-Iggy Azalea video snafu no doubt rubbed people both inside and outside the organization, but again, he’s just a kid. Mistakes happen. Plus, Nick Young deserves no sympathy for being a serial-cheating shitbag. If Russell was going to accidentally air out dirty laundry, at least he exposed something Azalea had the right to know.
Johnson is now officially even more all-in on Lonzo Ball and superstar free agents. If Ball doesn’t turn out to be a good leader, or if the Lakers don’t land George and another star by the end of next summer, they’ll have used a top-two prospect as salary-dumping fodder, which is an objectively dumbass decision when you’re not in a position to win basketball games.
To his credit, yes, we have to wait and see how this pans out. But let’s not pretend this was a brazen sell-low move that won’t define his front-office acumen, particularly if it goes south.
And by the by, Russell was asked about Johnson’s comments at his introductory presser with the Brooklyn Nets. He took the high road, because hell, why wouldn’t the 21-year-old be the consummate adult in this situation:
Russell on Magic's comments: "Its good to be here. Can't control what they say. I'm gone, it's the past. It's irrelevant."
— Anthony Puccio (@APOOCH) June 26, 2017
One more time for the Lakers elitists in the back: It’ll be a while before we can call this trade a failure for Los Angeles, if it gets to that point at all. But the stakes of the deal following these comments by Johnson are now higher than ever. So for his sake, he better hope it doesn’t come back to bite him in the long run.
