Lakers News: Free Agent D'Angelo Russell Wasn't Exactly Thrilled To Be Benched In Game 4

The Lakers point guard got honest in his exit interview.

During his Tuesday exit interview with the press, Los Angeles Lakers point guard D'Angelo Russell spoke at length about his disappointment with his very, very necessary move to the bench in favor of Dennis Schröder.

Russell had been awful throughout the team's Western Conference Finals series against the NBA Finals-bound Denver Nuggets. He averaged 6.3 points on .323/.133/.750 shooting splits, 3.5 assists, and two rebounds a game across 23.5 minutes a night. In Game 4, Russell saw his role reduced, playing just 14:56 -- his lowest time output in the postseason -- and scoring four points on 2-of-4 shooting from the floor, two rebounds and two assists.

“I mean, it was tough,” Russell said of the demotion. “It was tough to agree with it obviously, but in a short period of time to not become a distraction to your teammates and to everybody else that’s preparing just like you to get the one goal done which is win. I knew that was where you had to be professional. You can’t be a distraction at this point of the season and things like that, so that’s kind of how I went about it. I wanted to be professional and try to dominate my minutes when there were minutes for me.”

Russell, an unrestricted free agent this summer, is coming off a four-year, $117.3 million maximum contract extension. He's eligible for a two-year, $67.5 million extension before the technical end of the 2022-23 season July 1st. Given his poor performance in the Conference Finals, it seems unlikely he'll be retained at a number approaching his current deal.

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