Although everyone hates D’Angelo Russell for secretly taping Nick Young admitting to cheating on his girlfriend, it looks likes it’s Swaggy P who is going to have to leave the team for the Lakers to move forward.
via ESPN
Chances are Russell won’t be traded this offseason, but there’s a strong possibility the Lakers roster will be overhauled. That could include the team parting ways with Young, which could give Russell a fresh start with the same team. The story, however, won’t go away.
“Fortunately for D’Angelo Russell, that team is in such flux there will be a tremendous amount of roster turnover, and that could help him a little bit,” said ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler, who played for 10 seasons. “But even new guys coming in are going to know about this event. It’s a shady thing to do. People can write it off as immaturity, but I think it goes deeper than that. I think it speaks to your integrity as a person and your overall trustworthiness. It’s going to be a difficult thing for him to shed. I don’t know how you recover from something like this.”
This is a bad break for Young but the reality is that he’s expendable while Russell is a top draft pick with huge upside. In the end it’s just a business decision.