Los Angeles Lakers star D’Angelo Russell seems to have had trouble connecting with Lady Luck for the past few days. Despite his impressive performance during the regular season, the player’s stats dipped during the first playoff clash against the Denver Nuggets. Things improved during Game 2, but not enough for the Lakers to win. Expectations were high for the player to step up during Game 3, keeping the high stakes in mind.
Unfortunately, Russell ended his night by scoring 0 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists during his 24 minutes on the court. As a result of his recent play, the player attempted to make a retreat, which didn’t go unnoticeable.
A few hours ago, an X user by the name of ‘@cookedbylbj’ highlighted a screenshot from a Discord Server that D’Angelo Russell was earlier a part of. Emphasis on ‘earlier’, since the social media update has now revealed that Russell has shut down his Discord chat in the aftermath of the recent game.
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D’angelo Russell shut down his discord chat LMAOOOO pic.twitter.com/70UE3RuvEK
— ً (@cookedbylbj) April 26, 2024
The incident transpired a few days after D’Angelo Russell had taken to Discord to give assurances to the online community. He highlighted not being honest when a foul call made in his favor after an incident with Michael Porter Jr was later overturned during Game 2. Russell left a message on the server that read, “I can’t say what I wanna say because I’ll get fined and it will go viral. I’mma just say, told you I would make them b**ches.”
However, that was not all the 28-year-old point guard wanted to say. Hoping that Lakers fans won’t give up on the roster after their second consecutive playoff loss, he proceeded to write, “We still gonna win. Don’t give up on us.”
A couple of days have passed since those comments came up. Not only did the Lakers lose again, but Russell specifically failed to act out on his assurances. By making an exit and allegedly deleting his comments from the Discord server, questions arise about whether the player himself has given up on the Lakers’ chances to proceed to the tournament’s next stage.
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D’Angelo Russell had promised to deliver a “magnified” performance during Game 3
Surprisingly, D’Angelo’s remarks on Discord weren’t the only ones he left to assure his fans that things would be different in Game 3. Before the recent events at the Crypto. Com Arena, the guard had appeared for an interview on ‘SiriusXM NBA Radio’. Discussing his varying performance during Games 1 and 2 of the playoffs, Russell stated he had been “dominating” all season and that those golden performances would reflect during the upcoming games.
“For me to have a game off when everyone is watching, of course, it’s going to be magnified,” Russell said during his interview. “You see what I did the second game, and I’m looking forward to doing it the third game. I don’t lose confidence from this”.
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The ongoing Playoffs are not looking to be the best time for Russell to give out assurances. The player and the rest of the Lakers roster now need to win their remaining three playoff games in order to tie the score with the Nuggets. Another loss and the team will face elimination from the tournament. The upcoming game will tell us whether the shooting guard will pull off a miracle to reclaim his words.