Los Angeles Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell has been compared to NBA great Penny Hardaway by many, which is quite the compliment for a player heading into his second year in the league.

The No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft shares many similarities to the four-time NBA All-Star. Both are sizeable guards that can facilitate and score.

The two players’ paths have crossed before. Several years ago, Hardaway actually coached against Russell in Amateur Athletic Union basketball and he could sense that the Louisville native had something special. As per LakersNation.com, Hardaway sang Russell’s praises at an event for the Harold & Carole Pump Foundation recently.

“I knew that he was special a long time ago,” Hardaway said. “I think that he’s definitely going to grow into his shoes. I think it was big shoes coming out after one year (of college), coming to a forum, a stage like this, especially behind Kobe (Bryant) and what he had did for the organization. There’s always going to be high hopes for younger guys coming in to fill those shoes, and fair or unfair he has that handed to him, so I think he’s going to be okay later on.”

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The former Orlando Magic guard feels as though the 20-year-old could benefit from becoming more offensively aggressive and scoring more.

“I think his playmaking ability is already there,” Hardaway stated when asked about what Russell needs to improve. “I think scoring. He needs to go ahead and score a little bit more. Not selfish, because I wasn’t a selfish player, but he has to learn how to mix it up.”

Russell seems to be on the right track, as he displayed a significant leap in scoring during the NBA summer league, averaging 21.8 points and 4.0 assists. At such a young age, time is definitely on the skilled guard’s side and advice from NBA greats like Hardaway will work as inspiration to continue improving.