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.

Russell has appeared in six of the Nets' 11 games after joining the team in a Dec. 29 trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. The 28-year-old has averaged 13.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game on 41.7 percent shooting from the field and 36.7 percent from three.

Despite a close miss by D'Angelo Russell, the Nets lost to the Lakers 102-101 in what was supposed to be a revenge game for Russell, who had 19 points, six rebounds, and eight assists off the bench. Ziaire Williams had 15 points and Tosan Evbuomwan had 15 points and six rebounds off the bench to continue his impressive stretch for Brooklyn after being one of the team's recent Two-Way signings.

Ahead of his return to the Crypto.com arena, Nets guard D'Angelo Russell reflected on his previous stints with the Lakers. D'Lo expressed appreciation for his time there but also explained how he was ready to move on from the organization.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves gave major credit to his former teammate D’Angelo Russell for helping him deal with the LA scrutiny.

Austin Reaves finished with 38 points and the Lakers held on for a 102-101 win after former guard D'Angelo Russell missed a three-pointer in the final seconds.

D'Angelo Russell is seven games into his second spell with the Brooklyn Nets. The veteran guard was sent to his former team as part of the deal that saw Dorian Finney-Smith land with the Los Angeles Lakers.

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.