Los Angeles — After D’Angelo Russell and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night to mathematically eliminate them from playoff contention, it would be easy to draw a narrative connection between the confidence Russell showed in doing so and his emergence as an All-Star, to tell the tale as old as time of a proverbial young player gaining confidence as they found their footing in the professional ranks. To imply that Russell simply needed a fresh start to truly break through as an NBA player.
But while some of that might be the case, and it would be easy, like most narratives, it also wouldn’t be entirely true.