The Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to use D’Angelo Russell as a sweetener in order to dump the remainder of Timofey Mozgov’s deal on the Brooklyn Nets was the most surprising and controversial move of the team’s offseason.
It was a fitting end to the Lakers’ career of one of the most polarizing players the team has had in quite some time, with the move’s detractors crying out about bad process and giving up on a young player too early and its supporters trumpeting cap space, dreams of LeBron James and Paul George and Russell’s lack of Snapchat etiquette.