Disgraced ex-Lakers guard may join Duke legend Cooper Flagg on Mavericks after NBA Draft

The NBA Draft commenced on Wednesday night, with Cooper Flagg landing with the Dallas Mavericks to kick things off. 

According to a recent report, a disgraced former Los Angeles Lakers guard could join Flagg on the Mavericks after the highly anticipated NBA event ends. 

"Dallas is now regarded as a leading suitor for D'Angelo Russell,” The Stein Line’s Marc Stein reported.

"The Mavs can make a free agent run at Russell because Kyrie Irving's new deal has a lower Year 1 salary than his $43M player option.”

The Lakers had no choice but to move on from Russell midway through the 2024-25 season. The Ohio State product was a respectable regular-season player in Los Angeles, but the postseason was a different story. 

Unfortunately, Russell earned a reputation for underperforming under the bright lights during his 2.5-year stint with the Lakers.

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The 6-foot-3 guard would tease Lakers fans by efficiently dropping 20 points in one game before failing to score 10 the next. 

Embarrassingly, Russell didn’t connect on a field goal or a free throw in Game 3 of Los Angeles’ 2024 first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets after netting 23 points on superb previous splits in the last contest.

The Lakers eventually fell to the Nikola Jokic-led Western Conference franchise in five games, ending their season in late April.

Less than 40 games into this past season, the Lakers traded Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. 

Russell averaged 12.6 points and 5.1 assists per game in 29 games with the Nets, shooting 36.7% from the field and 29.7% from three.

The Mavericks may give the ex-Laker a chance to revitalize his career alongside Flagg, Irving, and Anthony Davis in Dallas.

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