Well before LSU phenom Ben Simmons declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft on Sunday night, it seemed like a foregone conclusion the script would write itself out this way.
“Before he left high school,” said Lakers rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell, “he was going into the league.”
Russell wasn’t just speculating. The two played at Montverde Academy, a prep school down in Central Florida, before Russell starred last year at Ohio State. So even if Russell only knew his intentions to declare for the NBA draft two months left into his lone season with the Buckeyes, the Lakers’ guard still gave him some practical advice toward how he handled his own college career.