D’Angelo Russell sure sounds happy to not be playing on the Lakers anymore

After a mixed run with the Lakers in his second stint, it sounds like D’Angelo Russell is happy to be out of Los Angeles and back in Brooklyn.

D’Angelo Russell’s second stint in Los Angeles was a rocky one. It started with highs, such as helping the Lakers make a run to the playoffs, but was immediately followed by his playoff performance.

That was a microcosm of his time in Los Angeles: high highs and low lows. Unfortunately, those lows often came when the lights were the brightest and the games were the most meaningful.

Ultimately, the Lakers realized D’Lo couldn’t be relied upon and, given his contract, he more better value as part of a trade than part of the roster. In some hilarious irony, they repeated history by sending him to Brooklyn once again in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith.

After one of his best performances of the season against the Knicks, D’Lo talked about how much more he enjoyed playing basketball in Brooklyn than Los Angeles.

Look, I’m not going to go too hard at D’Lo here. There are some people who just would rather play carefree basketball without any pressure attached to themselves or the games they’re in.

Saying you enjoy playing free basketball is fine. Surely, he also knows the implication of saying that while also playing on a 14-31 team that has won twice in its last 16 games.

I would also imagine that this was also a comment on how different his role in Los Angeles was versus the role he has in Brooklyn. With the Lakers under head coach JJ Redick, he had a bit less freedom to chuck and a shorter leash.

With the Nets, that leash is longer and that freedom, as he said, is greater. Does that coincide with the team being 2-12 since the start of 2025? You be the judge.

Now, even later on Tuesday night after this D’Lo quote, Redick himself had a postgame quote about roles within the team that many felt was directed at Russell.

Just to be clear, Russell’s quote came out while the Lakers were playing a game and Redick’s quote came immediately after said game. There is almost zero chance Redick’s quote was a response to anything D’Lo said.

Now, it is still interesting to compare those two quotes independent of one another, though!

I’m glad D’Lo found a spot where he can enjoy playing basketball again. And he certainly won’t have to worry about high-stakes games in Brooklyn this year or any time soon.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.