Podcast: Could D’Angelo Russell really return to the Lakers in free agency?
It’s hard to imagine D’Angelo Russell still being interested in coming to the Lakers in free agency this summer given the way they cast him aside, but it might actually happen.
Following a fairly quiet Los Angeles Lakers weekend, our podcast hosts discussed one of the more fun rumors in a little while. Might D’Angelo Russell really make his return to the team in free agency this summer? Apparently he’s interested, which is pretty wild considering how things ended his first time around.
I Love Basketball
Sasha and Sabreena are back for an all-new episode of “I Love Basketball”, and they can’t get enough of Talen Horton-Tucker. That’s mostly because learning to pronounce and write out the newest Laker’s name is going to be an endeavor for all of us. But it’s also because the girls can’t help but irrationally attach themselves to any young Laker who joins the roster, and Horton-Tucker’s physical tools make him a really exciting prospect for Lakers fans, even if he was taken in the second round.
But that’s all a prelude for the biggest topic in Laker Land: The potential return of Sasha’s long-lost love, D’Angelo Russell. Russell has been linked to the Lakers, and a number of other teams, as the Brooklyn Nets set their sights on the enigmatic Kyrie Irving. Although the Nets may not be showing Russell much love, Sasha and Sabreena think the Lakers, who are now without Magic Johnson and Luke Walton, should welcome the former No. 2 overall pick back with open arms.
They discuss the basketball fit of Russell next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, as well as the seismic cultural shifts that have taken place on the team since Russell last donned a Laker uniform.
You can listen to the episode below, and for more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
Locked on Lakers
Pete joined me to record our first official joint mailbag, and boy did our listeners have questions, especially having to do with the aforementioned Russell. As per usual, I offered up an extension of this take that might sound crazy: I’d rather have Russell at around $20 million per year than, say, Kyrie Irving at the $32 million you’d have to pay him.
From there, we got to as much of the mailbag as we could, given the number of questions asked. We discussed whether anything has changed in our stance on whether we’d prefer to see the Lakers build their roster through stars or role players, the latest on Kawhi Leonard and how freakin’ good Anthony Davis is.
Oh, and we kind of/sort of crapped on Danny Ainge. That was a lot of fun.
You can listen to the entire episode below, and make sure to subscribe on iTunes, where you can also leave questions in the form of a five-star review to guarantee your topic makes the show.