The Los Angeles Lakers surprised some people this past summer when they decided to draft D'Angelo Russell over Jahlil Okafor with the second overall pick in the draft. The Lakers, though, thought that Russell had all of the makings of a future star in the NBA and believed that his talent was undeniable.
To this day, Russell's talent is still undeniable, but he has been through a lot in his rookie season. Throughout much of the year, there was a contingent of NBA fans that wanted Byron Scott fired for not allowing Russell to play through some typical rookie struggles. Aside from the on the court struggles, though, there have been off the court concerns regarding Russell as well.
Prior to this week, the majority of the concerns regarding Russell seemed like something that the Lakers could deal with, as they revolved around him becoming too Hollywood and being immature. Now, however, the Lakers have a much bigger situation on their hands, as Russell is being isolated by his teammates for taking a video of a private conversation with Nick Young that eventually leaked.
As many people know, Young is engaged to pop star Iggy Azalea, but this conversation between Russell and Young was regarding Young's encounters with other women. It doesn't seem like Young has any idea that he is being recorded in this video, and Russell asks him leading questions to basically pry out a cheating confession.
Unsurprisingly, Azalea caught wind of this video and sent out a tweet basically thanking him for the information. It is unclear at this point how the video made its way out to the public, but this is bad for all parties involved. Young and Azalea's relationship is seemingly now in question, and it may be hard for Russell to ever be trusted by NBA teammates ever again.
Russell is in his first NBA season, and this is not exactly the way he would have wanted his rookie year to end. Reports state that the video leak was a major reason for the Lakers getting blown out by 48 points against the Jazz Monday night due to the tension in the locker room, and it has gotten to the point where teammates won't even sit with Russell during breakfast.
It is hard to blame Russell's teammates for feeling this way, as he took what he called a prank way too far. The timing of this is a shame because Russell was finally starting to get major minutes and actually showed that he could be a future star at points recently. Now, it is fair to wonder whether Russell's off the court behavior will ever allow him to reach his true potential.
