D'Angelo Russell's tenure with the Lakers has not gotten off on solid footing.
Already scrutinized for his summer league play after Lakers selected him with the No. 2 draft pick over Duke center Jahlil Okafor, Russell made the mistake of tweeting that Tracy McGrady was the greatest NBA player of all-time.
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That drew the ire of Kobe Bryant fans and forced Russell to delete the tweet.
His latest comments won't endear him to Los Angeles fans either, 247 Sports reported.
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Russell said he wasn't insulting Bryant, but in doing so, he did insult Lakers faithful.
"There's a lot of spoiled Lakers fans. I wasn't downgrading Kobe at all," Russell said Saturday in an interview with the Los Angeles News Group. "I was just watching a highlight tape of Tracy McGrady and I got excited. I tweeted and the whole state of California went crazy."
Russell also went on ESPN 710's Thompson and Trudell show to explain his rationale behind his original tweet.
"Lakers fans felt that I was taking shots at Kobe (Bryant) when it was the complete opposite. I know a lot of guys that are out there that have never played basketball, and then there's guys that have. If you're watching highlights on somebody and they're doing stuff that's got you like "Wow!" and you're trying to watch the next highlight on them - you're just like, "Man, he might have been nice." I probably used the wrong term - the greatest of all-time - but I was watching a highlight on him at the time. I could've been watching Vince Carter or Allen Iverson and would've said (that), and everyone would've gone crazy, but it was no disrespect."
Russell can redeem himself when the 2015-16 season starts, but that's two months away. The best thing he can do for himself now is to refrain from commenting any more on the situation.
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