D’Angelo Russell is one of the many questions that must be answered during the Lakers’ offseason. Russell, who is coming to the end of a four-year, $117,325,500 contract, is eligible to sign a two-year, $67.5 million extension before June 30. Russell averaged 17.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game. However, he is just one of many questions for the Lakers. They have a number of pending free agents, as well as the possibility of LeBron’s retirement.
Another source of free agency speculation is Kyrie Irving. The 31-year-old is set to explore the market after speculation that the Mavericks would not be re-upping after a few months of the Kyrie-Luka experiment began to emerge. While the Lakers have publicly waved off interest in Kyrie, they remain a popular candidate to acquire his services. However, the offseason is still in its infancy. Despite this, former NBA star and current analyst Jalen Rose believe that the team sent both players a message about their intentions during the playoffs.
Jalen Rose Explains Russell Benching And Courtside Kyrie
“You can’t bring back DLo,” Rose said on NBA Today. ”I don’t care what number it is, what years it is because when you get benched in the close-out game while Kyrie Irving is sitting in front row, that’s a double message because how did he get his tickets? And so, based on that alone, at halftime of Game 3, everybody knew that D’Angelo Russell should be benched. He was like -53 on the floor, they were like +35 with him off the floor.” Russell averaged 6.3 points in 23.5 minutes of play against the Denver Nuggets.
He continued. “When they didn’t bench him, to me, that was them saying to him ‘you know what, we’re not going to do that to you right now because we hope to sign you this offseason. When they benched him in Game 4, that let me know that they’re not gonna try to sign him.” What do you think the Lakers will do with Russell and Kyrie? Let us know in the comments. Follow all the latest sports news here at HotNewHipHop.
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