Erik Slater: D’Angelo Russell on adjusting to his role with the Nets after his trade from the Lakers: "I'll never take being able to play free basketball like this for granted again."

Russell has reached the playoffs on four different occasions, and he's still seeking his first NBA title. His longest postseason run came in 2023, when the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated in the Conference Finals.

The Los Angeles Lakers have only made one trade this year so far. They decided to ship out D'Angelo Russell in return for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. Milton has already fallen out of the rotation in Los Angeles.

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.

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.

D'Angelo Russell's time with the Los Angeles Lakers didn't end well and he is much happier now on the Brooklyn Nets. In his press conference after a 99-95 loss to the New York Knicks at Barclays Center,