After the Los Angeles Lakers traded Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Nets last month in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, he dropped 22 points off the bench in his season debut with Brooklyn in a 130-113 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 1.

As the calendar turned toward 2025, the Los Angeles Lakers made a bold roster move, trading D'Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for versatile forward Dorian Finney-Smith and sharpshooter Gabe Vincent.

In the crosstown rivalry game, New York nearly let up a fourth-quarter comeback, scoring just 15 points in the final 12 minutes. However, Brooklyn's 20 fourth-quarter points weren't enough. The Nets had relatively even scoring across the board,

D’Angelo Russell is adjusting to a featured role with the Brooklyn Nets following a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. After a tumultuous start to the season in Los Angeles under head coach JJ Redick,