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Draymond Green is liking what he's seeing from the Los Angeles Lakers and their frenetic NBA trade deadline moves — at least from a perspective of a basketball fan. The Golden State Warriors veteran believes that LeBron James and Co. got a lot better with the addition of a handful of new faces to their roster. The biggest among them is D'Angelo Russell, who the Lakers acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of the Russell Westbrook blockbuster trade.
Green doesn't deny that the Lakers were able to successfully fortify their lineup ahead of the second half of the season. However, he does have one compelling warning for LeBron and the Lakers on the DLo front:
“The Lakers got better, and the reason they got better is not necessarily because they got better players because Russell Westbrook is still Russell Westbrook,” Green said on a recent episode of his podcast. “But D'Angelo Russell's a hell of a player, Malik Beasley is a hell of a player, a good player, and Jarred Vanderbilt is a good player.
“I think the thing that I will watch in this trade is DLo's fit next to [LeBron James]. That's going to be a big thing because DLo plays at a certain pace. … And so just to see that fit and how that's all going to come here I think that's important to how this trade will be judged.”
You have to note that Green played alongside Russell for a bit during the latter's brief stint with the Warriors, so you know that Draymond has some insider knowledge here. He is also well aware of how LeBron operates, so one could argue that he's somewhat of an authority on this subject.
Lakers fans will get to test this theory on Saturday when D'Angelo Russell makes his highly-anticipated debut. LeBron is questionable for that game — against Draymond Green and the Warriors, no less — but it wouldn't be surprising if the newly-crowned all-time leading scorer suits up against the defending champs.
