THIS Is How D’Angelo Russell RUINED His Career In 7 Days…

This is how D'Angelo Russell ruined his career in just 7 days. News broke out yesterday that D'Lo is heading to China to play for the Shanghai Sharks after being waved by the Grizzlies last week. Honestly, I did not see that coming this fast. The second overall pick from 2015 is now out of the NBA at the age of 30 and we have to break down his sudden downfall. D'Angelo entered the league as one of the top prospects in his draft class but playing alongside Kobe in his farewell tour, nobody really paid him much attention. That is, until the video scandal with Swaggy P happened. Why in the world would you record your own teammate during boys talk and then put him on Snapchat? This ultimately caused Nick Young to split with his fiancée Iggy Azalea while the rest of the team started avoiding and isolating D'Lo. Regardless, in his second season, he bumped his averages from 13 points and 3 assists to 15.5 points and 5 assists per game for the Lakers team that was stuck on the bottom of the Western Conference. He showed flashes of his big potential in a direct matchup with Kyrie and LeBron. Clarkson from Russell missed it, tapped out to Zubats, back out to D'Angelo, he'll take that three, yes sir, and instead Russell trying to navigate out on top, if it goes, he'll have a three-point opportunity. At 20 years of age, D'Lo exploded for a career high of 40 points against the Cavs, but the Lakers fell short at the end as Irving responded with 46 of his own. The following summer, as the team was preparing for signing LeBron, Russell was sent to the Brooklyn Nets where he blossomed into an all-star. For posting 21 points and 7 assists in his second season with the Nets, D'Lo was selected as an injury replacement for Victor Oladipo and played for Team Giannis in the 2019 All-Star Game in Charlotte. Being just 22 at the time, the sky was the limit for D'Angelo. And as Brooklyn's finest, he surprisingly led the team to a winning season and a playoff spot against the 76ers in the first round. And they were prepared to shock the world. Russell scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half to stun the heavy favorite Sixers on their home floor in Game 1. But their joy didn't last long as Philly regrouped and executed a backdoor sweep, winning the next four games by an average margin of 16 points. In that span, they held D'Lo to a substandard 17 points on a measly 34% shooting from the field and just 32% from downtown. And two months later, he was on the move again. In a sign and trade deal to get Kevin Durant, the Nets had to ship D'Lo to the Warriors. I don't think he was mad about this at all, considering the fact that he secured a 4-year 117 million bag. This was Golden State's gap year, with Klay missing the entire season and Steph only playing in 5 games. So Russell had the ultimate green light. Playing in his sixth game ever in a dubs uniform, D'Lo erupted for a career-high 52 points, albeit in an overtime loss against the Timberwolves. This was the case for each and every one of those 33 games he played in the Bay Area. D'Angelo would have a high scoring night, but the Warriors would still lose the game. So in February of 2020, there he was, packing his bags for the third time in less than three years. D'Angelo Russell is going to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins. Look at this. He found a home in Minnesota for a while, playing three seasons as a complimentary guy alongside Cat and Ant. From 2020 to 2023, D'Lo averaged 18.5 points and 6.5 assists for the Wolves, but without any relevant team success. And when the front office was presented with a chance to get Mike Conley and Nikhil Alexander-Walker in exchange for him, they pulled the trigger, sending Russell back to the Lakers. He came in during hard times for the team, as LeBron and AD were facing the possibility of missing the playoffs for the second straight season. But without Westbrook and with D'Lo on the roster, the Lakers were able to turn things around quickly, winning 18 of their last 26 games. They reached the 7th seed in the West after a wild overtime win in the play-in tournament against his former team. And once they sneaked in the playoffs, a magical run was ahead of them. D'Lo was the hottest guy in Hollywood, single-handedly bringing the Lakers back into Game 4, which they ultimately won in overtime and took a commanding 3-1 lead. And if that wasn't enough, he went off again in Game 6. Russell balled out with 31 points on a blistering 70% efficiency in the closing win for LA. He averaged almost 17 points and 6 assists per game against Memphis as the third option behind James and Davis. And having one of the best 3-point sellies and coolest hairstyles in the league, it was good to be D'Angelo at the moment. However, his production dropped down a bit in the second round against the Warriors. Despite the Lakers winning the series in 6 games, D'Lo posted 14 points and 4 assists on a low 31% shooting from long range. Nobody remembers that cause they moved on obviously. But they quickly got a reality check in the conference finals against the Nuggets. After shooting 0 for 3 from downtown while also being non-existent on the defensive end, Russell was glued to the bench for the entire fourth quarter. This was the trend all throughout the series as he lost the starting spot to Dennis Schroeder. His absolute worst performance came in Game 3 when he shot a horrible 1 of 8 from the field in 20 minutes of action. It's like he forgot how to play basketball all of a sudden, throwing brick after brick after brick. In the sweep by the Nuggets who later on became champions, D'Angelo was unrecognizable, recording just 6 points and 3.5 assists on 32% shooting from the field and get this, 13% from 3 point range. Yeah, he made just 2 threes out of 15 tries during those 4 games, an absolute disaster class. The highs and lows were extreme for him that season. However, he quickly forgot about the lows after a sizzling hot start to the next season. D'Angelo broke the Lakers franchise record for most threes in a single season with 226 in the 23-24 campaign while shooting a career best 41.5%. Now that's how you redeem yourself after such a letdown in the postseason. The Lakers won a couple of more games than the previous year, but still had to go through the play-in tournament in order to secure a playoff spot. With ice in his veins, D'Angelo comes up clutch on both ends to beat the Pelicans and set another date with the Nuggets in the first round. And while Lakers fans were delusionally hoping for a different outcome, the nightmares quickly returned for Russell. D'Angelo was back to his old habits, shooting a horrid 1 of 9 in game 1 which they lost obviously. In game 2, he played a lot better scoring 23 points on 7 of 11 from downtown. But unfortunately for him, Jamal Murray happened at the end. In game 3, D'Angelo hit rock bottom. A 24-minute cardio game for D'Angelo. Zero points on 0 for 7 shooting. Falling down 3-0 to Denver for a second straight year, Lakers fans had enough. The Lakers dodged another sweep by taking game 4 at home just to see Jamal Murray break their hearts again. After the gentlemen's sweep in 2024, it was crystal clear that D'Angelo Russell can't be a starting caliber player in an NBA playoff series. His defensive liabilities along with his long shooting slumps made him unplayable in the postseason. And from that point on, his decline was pretty sharp. In the last two seasons, he played for 20-some games in LA, Brooklyn and Dallas while averaging 12 points on 31% shooting from deep. He didn't have any major injuries lately, it's just that he became expendable. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he can easily continue to put up 10-15 points per night for some bottom team in the league, but that's not the point of competing. Though if Ben Simmons can still be in the NBA, I don't see why Russell cannot. And speaking of Simmons, immediately after signing with Sacramento, he found himself in an awkward situation right on media day. You gotta check out exactly what happened right here in this video. Talk to you in the next one, peace out.