D’Angelo Russell Trade: Three things to know about the stunning move

It opened up the necessary cap space for superstars

Enough with the dumb money — this front office knows it needs to put their money where their mouth is. Magic Johnson has said in the past that the Lakers just need a superstar to get on the elite level in the league.

Now is their chance.

By dealing Timofey Mozgov as part of the deal, the team lifts $54 million. Just like that, Los Angeles is immediately in play for any big names in free agency.

Well, money wise at least.

Since we know that money talks, it could put them in a good position to surround the rest of the cast with better players. Assuming they get Paul George a year early via trade, that money can go towards pushing a playoff type team.

And we all know Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka would rather win sooner than later.

Ever since Paul George expressed that he wanted to become a part of the Lakers, this is something we should’ve seen coming. Thanks to the terrible deal to get Mozgov in the first place, the team had to send the guy that was supposed to be their future star packing.

But maybe that’s what they needed to do for the better interest of the team in the long run.