The latest rumor out of Los Angeles could spell the end of Jim Buss' tenure as vice president of basketball operations, unless it involves DeMarcus Cousins or Kevin Durant entering the Lakers family.
The Lakers, who passed over big men Jahlil Okafor and Kristaps Porzingis in the NBA Draft last summer, could be shopping the player they did take -- D'Angelo Russell -- according to a tweet from hoopscritic.com's Brian Geltzeiler via Larry Brown Sports.
In taking to people around the league on who has been made available in trade talks a very surprising name has come up: DeAngelo Russell
— Brian Geltzeiler (@hoopscritic) January 28, 2016
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"The report is quite surprising, and it is difficult to believe for many reasons," Larry Brown Sports reported. "The most obvious is that the Lakers used the No. 2 overall pick on Russell in the NBA Draft back in June. Russell is just 19, and he has already shown flashes of brilliance on the court. With Kobe Bryant set to retire, many believe Russell could be the future of the franchise."
Russell's rookie season in Los Angeles, however, has been anything but peachy. Coach Byron Scott has relegated Russell to the bench in the fourth quarters of games throughout the season for a variety of reasons.
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During Tuesday night's 92-90 loss to the Mavericks, Scott pulled out Russell for trying to do too much, according to ESPN.
"I saw the last couple minutes that he was in that he was really trying to take over the game, and that's not him yet," Scott said of Russell. "I want the ball to move a little bit. I thought it stuck with him. He tried to make the big shots and things like that. I understand that, but to me, that's not him right now."
If the Lakers were to trade Russell without an A-List player in return, Buss, who is in the second year of a three-year plan to turn the team back into an NBA contender, basically would be pushing back the arrival date for L.A. to return to its status among the elite.
If Cousins or Durant is on the way, Buss surely will get a reprieve. If not, Buss might not even get next year to turn around the team's fortunes.
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