Heading into his first season with the Brooklyn Nets, third-year guard D'Angelo Russell has shouldered a large weight of expectations of possibly becoming the next face of the franchise.
The 21-year-old showcased much of that offensive ability in the season opener on Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers by tying a franchise record with Hall of Famer Nate Archibald.
D'Angelo Russell's 30 points are tied with Nate Archibald (1976) for the most by a @BrooklynNets player in their debut in franchise history. pic.twitter.com/DSW8DEOK59
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) October 19, 2017
D'Angelo Russell had an effective shooting performance reaching that mark on 12-of-22 shooting from the field including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc along with five assists, three rebounds, and a steal. He had remained aggressive looking for his shot throughout the contest that needed no overtime in what turned out to be a 140-131 season opener loss for the Nets.
There may be many more highly-productive offensive performances ahead for Russell as he's the Nets' top scoring option. This should entail plenty of shot attempts and opportunities to score in his first campaign in Brooklyn.
With Jeremy Lin suffering what appeared to be a serious knee injury late in the fourth quarter, Russell will have to shoulder more of the offensive workload moving forward. This may include more responsibility as a distributor with him and Spencer Dinwiddie being the only healthy point guards on the roster at the moment.
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