Even though D’Angelo Russell and the Lakers worked hard without LeBron James, they couldn’t beat their rivals from across the hall.D’Angelo Russell hasn’t been affected by the trade reports that have linked him to Dejounte Murray, Tyus Jones, and even Collin Sexton.

He has instead played some of his best basketball of the season.

His averages over the last five games have been 24.8 points, 6.8 assists, and 2.6 rebounds. This has helped the Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Los Angeles Clippers were on the road on Tuesday, and the Lakers had to beat them…sort of. LeBron James was out with a left ankle injury, and head coach Darvin Ham said he was “day-to-day.”The Lakers could have given up against the star-studded Clippers because they were short-handed. No one would have thought twice about a bad loss to a good team without your best player during a season full of bad losses.

Russell didn’t do things that way. He was determined to get the Lakers back on track.

“Exactly that (mindset)” Russell said after the game. “Since LeBron isn’t playing, try to step up and help the team win.”

He played hard right away and made 50% of his shots from the field in the first half, getting 15 points. His pick-and-roll partner, Anthony Davis, did what he said and scored 18 points, which led the team and helped the Lakers score 64 points by halftime.

The Clippers were even better; they made 66% of their field goals and were ahead by 13 points at halftime. But that wasn’t because they didn’t try.The Lakers’ two best players put up a fight against a Clippers team with four players who can score 20 or more points on any given night. In this game, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard scored 20 or more points, and three other Clippers finished the night with 17 points or more.

Russell was a big reason why the Lakers got back into the game in the third. He started the frame by scoring the first seven points for the team. He did it from the free throw line, from deep, and from inside the paint.

He kept running the game, and even though he wasn’t giving a great defensive performance, he wasn’t breaking either. The Clippers’ motto is “give no quarter,” but the Lakers finally got one in the third, outscoring their opponent 42–35 to go into the fourth down by nine points.

In the fourth, Russell had most of the ball that could have been used to score. He fed Wood two passes in a row, and then Wood made a basket from midrange that cut the lead to four. This run wasn’t fool’s gold; without the King, the purple and gold had a chance to steal a win from loss.

After the Lakers’ offensive barrage, the Clippers had a fastbreak chance, and Harden looked like he had a clear path to the basket to make it a bigger Clippers lead. Russell turned on the jets and came back to meet him at the edge of the court. He kept his distance from Harden, used his angles, and squared up to stuff the future Hall of Famer at the rim. The crowd exploded with a mix of joy, confusion, and thanks for Russell’s hard work.

He has every possible reason to be holding up a move that is about to happen. He might act like it’s not his problem that James isn’t there. However, he is not sitting around and being a lame-duck guard. Instead, he is stepping up and doing more than what is expected to help this team win games.The Lakers were within two points after Russell made a jump shot in the fourth quarter, but the Clippers quickly went on a 9-0 run that put the game out of reach for good. Leonard made free throws while Clippers fans chanted “MVP” over him.

Fans of the Lakers know how competitive Russell is, so it’s possible that a good game in a loss doesn’t bother him. But he did something for the Lakers that he has never done before: he scored 25 points and had 10 assists in the same game.

Who knows what will happen to Russell in Los Angeles?

With the trade deadline coming up on February 8, he seems like one of the Lakers players who will be moved the most. It may be the end of his time with the team.

As fans, we talk a lot about how to appreciate success. To not think too little of tales. Russell isn’t as famous as Kevin Durant or LeBron James, but he’s been a mainstay for Los Angeles throughout his career, and he’s made an impact in his two stays here. He’s one of the top 15 Lakers shooters from three-point range all-time. He helped this team make it to the Western Conference Finals and win the first In-Season Tournament, which meant a lot to him.