D’Angelo Russell admits Magic Johnson’s comments ‘ruffled a few feathers’

Los Angeles Lakers legend and president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson, didn’t hold back on the team’s reasoning for trading D’Angelo Russell and drafting Lonzo Ball. The Lakers brass felt Russell wasn’t the leader they needed resulting in the deal that sent him to the Brooklyn Nets last summer.

Earlier this week, Russell made his return to the Staples Center for the first time since being traded to face his former team. D’Angelo admitted Magic’s comments didn’t exactly sit well with him, via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk.

“I would say it ruffled a few feathers,” Russell said before the Nets fell 124-112 to the Lakers on Friday in their first meeting since the summer trade. “But you control what you can control. He’s in a position to say what he wants, so I just try to do what I can do at the end of the day.”

Russell has played well with the Nets thus far and has already taken over the distinction for it being his team. In eight games thus far, the former second overall pick is averaging a career-high 21.1 points per game to go along with 5.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.7 steals. He is also shooting a career-high 44.4 percent from the floor.

Whether the D’Angelo experiment in Brooklyn works out long-term remains to be seen, but both teams seem to be happy with the direction they’ve taken as they continue to rebuilding process with promising young guards. Ball has also turned a lot of heads in Los Angeles as he helps get this franchise back on track.