Los Angeles Lakers rumors: Relax, D’Angelo Russell isn’t coming back

The Los Angeles Lakers rumors have been heavy since the team acquired Anthony Davis and now include a former point guard that was once traded.

The Los Angeles Lakers made arguably the biggest move of the entire offseason the day before Father’s Day and traded for superstar big man, Anthony Davis.

While the trade paves a route for the Lakers to make a run at the NBA Title, it also leaves a roster that needs extra pieces. The team lost two roster spots by including three players — Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart — and were already dealing with a thin roster with so many free agents.

Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers have just six players on the roster, two of which spent a majority of the season in the G League last season.

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The result of not having a full roster is having cap space to add to the roster, which is a blessing for the team. At first, it appeared as if the team had enough space to add a third max guy. However, because of Anthony Davis’ trade kicker, the team does not have such funds.

That does not mean that the team has given up on a third star, though. There are rumblings of the front office clearing out the rest of the roster as well as including a third team in the trade with New Orleans to open cap space.

Either way, it looks like the Lakers are looking for a third star. We already discussed whether or not that is wise in a separate article.

Some fans are getting excited that the third star might be former Laker, D’Angelo Russell. Russell was always a fan favorite in Los Angeles and some fans have gained an even bigger appreciation for the former point guard after his all-star campaign this past season.

The speculation started with a Tweet, which is on par for the NBA. Russell liked a tweet from Kyle Kuzma that had the popular NBA drama eyeballs emoji. Yes, this was enough to legitimately give fans the belief that Russell was returning to LA.

I mean, it is not all from that Tweet. Russell actually would be a great fit in LA as the team needs a guard that can be a playmaker and create his own looks as well as feed off of LeBron James. Russell is just that and is the perfect second or third best player for a title-contending team.

But just because it is a good fit, and he liked a tweet, should not give you fake optimism. The Los Angeles Lakers still have a long way to go until getting enough cap space for a third star and Russell might not want to re-sign with the team that traded him for salary cap space.

Once legitimate reports come out then fans can get excited about the idea of Russell back in LA. Until then, it is all just part of the beast that is the NBA offseason.