Subscribe
Follow Us
D'Angelo Russell has been waiting for his chance to rise to stardom after his first three seasons saw him fall shy of tapping into his full potential. The former second-overall pick was traded to the Brooklyn Nets after his second season, only to see a rousing start with his new team come to a sudden end with a knee injury.
After a 31-game absence, Russell came back to finish out the rest of the 2017-18 season, but wasn't the same — but managed to slowly soak up every bit of influence from his surroundings.
“For myself, I can say that I’ve been through so much. I didn’t know how to be a professional,” Russell admitted to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “You’re around it every day, there’s no let-offs. Everybody’s two feet in on just being in it for everybody else instead of yourself.”
Russell has now developed into an All-Star player (named as an injury replacement), only months after awaiting a rookie-scale extension from the Nets and seeing the chance pass him by after draftmates Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns signed succulent ones over the summer and days into the regular season.
Yet the Ohio State product remained resilient and played through the season, showing he's fit to lead this team to the promised land after a year of development under a new culture.
“I need that, that reassurance, and almost that humbling experience just coming to a new organization where they take pride into that,” said Russell. “Just to get this opportunity, I’m lost for words. But I know how far I’ve come. That speaks for the development of the players we have here. I think that’s going to go a long way in the future.”
Having learned the ways of the league, the future looks only promising for Russell, who is averaging a career-high 19.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game in the season.
