Brooklyn Nets: D’Angelo Russell continues to prove the doubters wrong

With another unbelievable All-Star level performance for the Brooklyn Nets, D’Angelo Russell’s hype train is reaching breakneck speeds.

In a season that has defied expectations time and time again, point guard D’Angelo Russell has found more ways to wow anyone smart enough to pay attention with another in a long list of tremendous performances for the Brooklyn Nets.

On a fairly standard Tuesday night, the Nets found themselves matched up with another team doing its best to play above its supposed ceiling in the Sacramento Kings. Heading into the fourth quarter, the game looked all but over for Brooklyn, down 24 points. But the Nets sat victorious, in large part due to the play of their All-Star floor general.

Not only did DLo score a career-high 44 points, but he dropped 27 of those in the game’s final 12 minutes, helping his team complete the greatest comeback in franchise history with a 123-121 victory.

It’s been said at nearly every point in the 2018-19 season, and yet it still doesn’t get any less hilariousL Russell was the player who, at just 21 years of age, was shipped away by the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a salary dump to get rid of Timofey Mozgov‘s laughable contract.

The move didn’t really make much sense even back then in the summer of 2017. Russell had his flaws as somewhat of a nightly wildcard, but there were also times he showed the ability to perform as he has in the present, weaving in and around defenses with incredible shot-making capabilities in the game’s biggest moments.

President Magic Johnson would justify the transaction by essentially citing a lack of leadership qualities. Such complaints were valid at the time, but they were also shortsighted. Russell had some off-the-court issues involving then teammate Nick Young, which raised questions about his character.

At the same time, the incident occurred when he was only 20, and he was traded roughly a year later. To expect someone so young still trying to find himself both on and off the court to function as the leader of arguably the preeminent NBA franchise doesn’t seem logical.

Here in the present day two years later, with that same guy certainly having spent some time learning and maturing, he serves as the focal point and leader for a team in place to qualify for the postseason for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign.

Averaging a career-high 20.7 points and a career-high 6.9 assists per game, Russell earned his first All-Star selection and looks the part of franchise cornerstone. It’s funny what a little patience can do.

Whereas a good amount of breakout stars spend one summer putting it all together, there has never appeared to be that moment for Russell, and not in a bad way. The talent was always there; it’s why he was drafted so high in the first place. He just needed a coach and an organization to believe in him enough to let him grow through the natural struggles a young player is supposed to go through.

He wasn’t a prodigy coming out of Ohio State University, but he also wasn’t a total scrub. As he continues to show off his stuff, it’s clear that Russell is who we thought he could be heading into the 2015 NBA Draft. It just took more time than what the Lakers were willing to wait, and as the saying goes: One man’s trash is another man’s All-Star.