The NBA fined Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell $25,000 on Saturday for verbally abusing a game official. His actions occurred on the court after the Lakers’ season-ending Game 5 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, the league said.
It’s unclear what exactly Russell said to the official following the conclusion of Game 5, but with the Lakers’ season coming to a disappointing end, it’s understandable why he was upset and frustrated at the time. Lashing out on an official is obviously not something the league will tolerate though, so he will head into the offseason with his wallet feeling slightly lighter than before due to this fine.
The series against the Nuggets was again filled with ups and downs for Russell. Although he had a pair of good games, he did not bring much offensively in the other three. That includes going scoreless at home in Game 3 and finishing the season with 14 points and six assists but on just 6-of-15 shooting and 2-of-10 from 3-point range in the closeout Game 5.
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That is not to underplay the regular season that Russell had though as he was exceptional for the Lakers, especially from the middle of January on when they were fighting for playoff positioning.
Overall in 76 regular season games, Russell averaged 18.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 45.6% from the field and 41.5% from 3-point range on 7.1 attempts per game.
