D'Angelo Russell has emerged as one of the top candidates to win the lauded Most Improved Player award at the end of this season, taking the Brooklyn Nets from one of the bottom dwellers in the East into a likely playoff team fighting for the No. 6 seed.
Some front-office personnel feel the 23-year-old guard has more than just a puncher's chance to win the award:
“Russell has a great shot to win the award,” one Eastern Conference general manager told Michael Scotto of The Athletic. “He’s played a large role in Brooklyn’s improvement this season.”
“Russell has been the best player on a team that’s taken a big jump,” an Eastern Conference general manager said via text. “He’s had an All-Star season after being ‘dumped’ for cap relief. His statistical jump is not as impactful as (Pascal) Siakam, but his impact on his team is more significant in my opinion.”
Russell was traded after merely two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, swapped alongside Timofey Mozgov for Nets mainstay Brook Lopez and the No. 27 pick, Kyle Kuzma. The move would allow the Lakers to unload three years of Mozgov's albatross four-year deal, while clearing the way for them to draft Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
How did that pan out?
Russell was averaging more than 20 points per game to start his season before an injury saw him miss 31 straight games before returning to action. Now with a full season and blessed with good health, the Nets point man has lit up the stage en route to his first All-Star selection, posting 20.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game after rising to prominence as one of the deadliest jump-shooting guards in the league.
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