D’Angelo Russell has proven all of his detractors wrong this season, and is now strictly focused on winning.
“I don’t have to say anything,” said the 23-year-old first-time NBA All-Star.
Russell is enjoying a career-best 20.9 points and 7.0 assists, while attempting to lead the Brooklyn Nets back to the playoffs.
Per The NY Post:
“That’s what we play for: You play to win. Every year you want to keep elevating you. And that’s what I want to do,” said Russell, when asked if leading a team into the playoffs is his next hurdle. “Coming back next year, whatever accolades I had this year I want to double that. Keep coming. Wins will fall on that.”
When the Lakers traded Russell, team president Magic Johnson intimated he wasn’t a leader, couldn’t make teammates better and wasn’t somebody people wanted to play alongside.
But as Russell keeps steaming the Nets toward the playoffs — just half a game behind Detroit for sixth in the East — he’s disproving the narrative victory by victory. He’s doing it with his team’s wins, so he doesn’t have to say it with his words.
“Everybody was wrong, obviously,” Russell said simply. “Everybody was wrong about me. So I don’t have to say anything.”
Related THE NOTORIOUS D-LO: D’Angelo Russell Is Built for This
