Lakers' Scott sends Russell back to bench with Clarkson healthy

By foxsports
Published

Despite his impressive play when he returned to the starting lineup, Lakers rookie D'Angelo Russell will be back on the bench when Jordan Clarkson returns to Los Angeles' game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, Lakers head coach Byron Scott said.

Scott claims the demotion is not a punishment for Russell, but with Clarkson returning from a sprained right ankle, it's only fair to give him back his spot in the starting lineup.

"I don't know if it'll bother him [Russell] or not, but he's 19 years old, so it probably will," Scott said, via the Los Angeles Times. "But I'm going to tell him, 'Listen, the last couple of games you played really well and even the game before that you played really well when that starting lineup was Jordan and Lou.' But then Jordan got hurt so obviously he gets a lot more time.

"It hasn't changed. I'm still going to go back to the [previous] starting lineup... and see how he reacts. And I hope that he'll come out and play the same way he's been playing."

Scott moved Russell and second-year big man Julius Randle to the bench four games ago, inserting Lou Williams and Larry Nance Jr., respectively, in their place during the team's eight-game road trip (in which they went 1-7, including 0-4 since the starting lineup change).

Russell averaged 18 points on 37.8 percent shooting from the field and 38.9 percent on 3-pointers to go along with 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2.5 steals in blowout losses to the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets last week. Russell also consistently displayed a level of confidence and poise previously unseen this season, which makes his move to the bench even more disappointing than it was the first time.

Scott initially said he planned on sticking with his lineup changes for at least 10 games, but Russell's impressive play has almost forced his hand.

"I thought D'Angelo started coming of age a little bit," Scott said. "I thought he played with a lot more confidence. His command of the offense was much better. His turnovers were a little bit lower. It's something that he's still got to continue to work on. But I like what I saw on this road trip. 

"So again, I think his development is coming, slowly but surely. That's something that I thought was very positive."