After the Los Angeles Lakers traded Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Nets last month in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, he dropped 22 points off the bench in his season debut with Brooklyn in a 130-113 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 1.

In the crosstown rivalry game, New York nearly let up a fourth-quarter comeback, scoring just 15 points in the final 12 minutes. However, Brooklyn's 20 fourth-quarter points weren't enough. The Nets had relatively even scoring across the board,

Here are the Brooklyn Nets player grades following Tuesday's 99-95 loss to the New York Knicks in Mikal Bridges' return to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Nets guard D'Angelo Russell seemingly took a shot at the Los Angeles Lakers coaches and training staff following a recent game.

As the calendar turned toward 2025, the Los Angeles Lakers made a bold roster move, trading D'Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for versatile forward Dorian Finney-Smith and sharpshooter Gabe Vincent.

Brooklyn Nets guard D'Angelo Russell discussed trying to move on from the tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers before he dropped 19 points.

Nets guard D'Angelo Russell seemingly holds a grudge against the Lakers for trading him twice within the span of a few years. After dropping 23 points and 10 assists in the Nets' 99-95 loss to the Knicks on Tuesday, Russell implied that he wasn't allowed to play "free basketball" during his multiple stints in Los Angeles.

Russell of course is a two-time member of both the Lakers and the Nets, and was making his first return to Los Angeles since the team dealt him to Brooklyn last month. After missing the game winner, Russell took to X with a cryptic message that had Nets fans buzzing. “Muted emotion,” wrote Russell in his post.

The final shot fell to D'Angelo Russell—traded by LA to the Nets just weeks earlier for the second time—but his attempt was just a bit too strong. Brooklyn's veteran guard came close to a triple-double,