D'Angelo gets brutally honest on the challenges he faced amid trading rumors

Before the Lakers stood pat in the trade deadline to then add the point guard Spencer Dinwiddie in the buyout market to use the 15th spot that they had available, D'Angelo Russell was at the top of rumors and reports as a possible trading piece for the Lakers during the trade deadline.

Weeks of different rumors and reports had the Lakers wanting to upgrade from D'Angelo Russell, with the most constant rumored move being a trade with the Atlanta Hawks for the guard Dejounte Murray. But D'Lo gave some of his best performances in his career and made himself essential for the team.

Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell got brutally honest and admitted that his friends and family were worried amid rumors that the team was considering dealing him. “Honestly, everybody around me, like my friends, my family, they were kinda panicking a little bit, panicking for me,” Russell recently revealed.

“And I kinda just never let my mind go there. For me, it was wake up, come to work. I just kinda stayed in that moment. It allowed me to catch a vibe, just flow through basketball, you know.”

D'Angelo Russell revealed his mindset amid the trading rumors

“I never played to not get traded,” D'Lo said. “I was just kinda like, f— it. And that ‘f— it’ allowed me to play my game.” The guard also credited his recent stretch of productive basketball to the idea that he doesn’t get too hung up on what his shooting percentages are. “Guys come in, they care about their percentages, they care about all this stuff and then they struggle,” he said. “As soon as I stopped caring about it, I played my best basketball of my career.”