Bill Oram: There's No Bad Blood Between Lakers & D'Angelo Russell Anymore

Doug Gottlieb: “The Lakers did not like D’Angelo Russell at all when they got rid of him, now all of the sudden this changes 24 months later??”

Bill Oram: “Yes. D’Angelo continued to develop as a player in Brooklyn and he became a better all-around player. The Lakers did not like him, you’re right, but they’ve had an overhaul in all major departments – a new head coach, a new coaching staff, and the front office is now run by Rob Pelinka and not Magic Johnson. Magic was the one who had the problem with D’Angelo. I talked to Magic outside the NBA awards and he made it very clear that he felt the Nick Young video incident made it so guys wouldn't respond to D’Angelo in that locker room… Those guys are all gone now and the players in Brooklyn responded positively to him. There’s no reason for D’Angelo to have bad feelings towards the Lakers because the guy who spearheaded the trade for him and disparaged him on his way out the door stepped down.”

Listen to Los Angeles Lakers insider Bill Oram of The Athletic explain to Doug Gottlieb why the 2017 Nick Young/Iggy Azalea fallout that ravaged the Lakers locker room a couple seasons ago is not going to be a bitter memory that would affect free agent D’Angelo Russell potentially not signing with the team next week.

Russell, of course, was at the forefront of a bizarre incident with Swaggy P where he leaked secret audio that he himself had recorded on his phone of Young admitting to cheating on his former rapper girlfriend Iggy Azalea. Azalea and Young would break up because of the tape and Russell apparently hemorrhaged the team’s chemistry by playing a mischievous part in one of his teammate’s personal affairs,

Check out the audio below as Oram says there won’t be any more bad blood between the team as Russell has resurrected his career, and the Lakers have simultaneously purged their franchise from the inside out, especially with former team President Magic Johnson out of the picture, who orchestrated Russell’s LA exodus to begin with.