D'Angelo Russell was far from the most popular member of the Los Angeles Lakers throughout his two stints with the team. His second run with the Lakers started with a lot of initial optimism before ending in disappointment. However, it was not all for nothing. Dalton Knecht claims to have benefitted from Russell's presence.
The former Lakers guard was struggling to fit in with head coach JJ Redick and the new direction of the team. Russell wound up being moved to the bench as a result.
In his 29 games with the Lakers this season, Russell only started 10 of them. The former All-Star averaged 12.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.7 assists, while shooting a mediocre 41.5 percent from the field and an underwhelming 33.3 percent from 3-point land during 26.3 minutes per game.
That production resulted in him being traded, once again, to the Brooklyn Nets. The Lakers managed to secure Dorian Finney-Smith in exchange. Apart from securing a solid 3-and-d wing as an excellent parting gift for the Lakers organization, it turns out that Russell offered at least one more in the direction of Knecht.
The Lakers rookie discusses Russell's impact
Knecht is getting the opportunity to experience NBA All-Star Weekend for the first time in his career. The former Tennessee star was a member of Team C, who won the Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star Friday.
That unit will now get to compete with the best of the best in the NBA's new All-Star Game format involving four different teams participating in a mini-tournament. Knecht and company will actually match up against Team Shaq where they will face another Laker, LeBron James, in the first round.
A big part of All-Star Weekend has always been the media availability period as well. While most media members will sprint to make sure they get the answers they want out of the All-Stars themselves, the Rising Stars are an important part of that process too.
Knecht was asked about the best advice he has received during his rookie year. The man behind that advice was none other than the aforementioned Russell.
"Right after a game, just move on," Knecht told reporters of the advice offered by the former Lakers point guard. "Don't care about how you did, just move on because you've got the next game coming towards you. So at the end of the day, no matter how high or how low that game was, you've got to move on and be ready to play the next one and get better."
Knecht is having a pretty good rookie season, apart from the awkward Mark Williams trade fiasco. The Lakers sharpshooter is averaging 9.4 points per game with shooting splits of 46.4 percent from the field, 36.0 percent from 3-point, and 81.4 percent from the free throw line. Perhaps Russell's advice has indeed served Knecht well to this point of his young career.
