After the Los Angeles Lakers traded Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Nets last month in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, he dropped 22 points off the bench in his season debut with Brooklyn in a 130-113 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 1.

Despite a close miss by D'Angelo Russell, the Nets lost to the Lakers 102-101 in what was supposed to be a revenge game for Russell, who had 19 points, six rebounds, and eight assists off the bench. Ziaire Williams had 15 points and Tosan Evbuomwan had 15 points and six rebounds off the bench to continue his impressive stretch for Brooklyn after being one of the team's recent Two-Way signings.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves gave major credit to his former teammate D’Angelo Russell for helping him deal with the LA scrutiny.

Ahead of his return to the Crypto.com arena, Nets guard D'Angelo Russell reflected on his previous stints with the Lakers. D'Lo expressed appreciation for his time there but also explained how he was ready to move on from the organization.

Several players could have added motivation during Friday’s Los Angeles Lakers-Brooklyn Nets matchup at Crypto.com Arena. The most notable is newly acquired Nets point guard D’Angelo Russell. After missing Brooklyn’s historic 126-67 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday,

D'Angelo Russell is seven games into his second spell with the Brooklyn Nets. The veteran guard was sent to his former team as part of the deal that saw Dorian Finney-Smith land with the Los Angeles Lakers.

As the calendar turned toward 2025, the Los Angeles Lakers made a bold roster move, trading D'Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for versatile forward Dorian Finney-Smith and sharpshooter Gabe Vincent.