D’Angelo Russell is having a spectacular season for the Brooklyn Nets. Russell has turned himself into one of the elite point guards in the NBA, and has showed that he is a future superstar for this Nets team. Russell is averaging 20.5 ppg and 6.7 apg on 43.5% shooting. All 3 stats are career highs for Russell, and those numbers keep going up game after game. Russell’s 20.5 ppg ranks him 10th in scoring in the Eastern conference (4th among eastern conference point guards) and 29th in scoring throughout the NBA. Russell’s 6.7 apg ranks him 5th in the East (4th among eastern conference point guards) and tied for 12th among all players in the NBA. Both stats prove that D’Angelo Russell is a top 10 point guard in the NBA. More importantly, Russell is the main figure on a winning team. The Nets are currently the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 32-30. No one thought the Nets would be the 6th seed with just over 20 games to go in the season. Russell has led a group of outcasts and underrated players to the heart of the eastern conference playoff picture. The Nets would not be in the position they are in without D’Angelo.

When the Nets acquired D’Angelo Russell in the summer of 2017, Russell was seen as being on the verge of a bust. Russell averaged 13.2 ppg and 3.3 apg his rookie season, and then 15.6 ppg and 4.8 apg in his sophomore season. Those numbers weren’t bad, but the Lakers expected more from their second overall pick. The Lakers were atrocious in both seasons Russell was on the team, and the new regime of Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka wanted to make a chance. Magic shipped D’Angelo and Timofey Mosgov to Brooklyn for Brook Lopez and a first round pick that would become Kyle Kuzma. Magic bashed Russell in a press conference shortly after the trade, saying that Russell was not a leader. That only added fuel to the fire for Russell’s rise in the NBA. D’Angelo was not given proper time to develop in LA, and that’s exactly what he got in Brooklyn. Russell was off to a stellar start in the 2017-18 before a lingering knee injury caused him to get surgery. Russell probably needed the surgery when he was in LA, but Brooklyn was in no rush to win and allowed him to get the surgery. Russell fit right in with the Nets player first / friendly attitude, and have rewarded Brooklyn vastly. Russell has become the lottery pick that the Nets should have had, and the face of the franchise. The Nets will definitely re sign Russell in the offseason, and probably reward him handsomely for his efforts this season. It’s finally exciting to be a Nets fan, with Russell looking to lead Brooklyn to an eastern conference force over the next decade.

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