How did you and Austin Reaves form your bromance? D’Angelo Russell: I think we both honestly were caught in the pickle of how to play next to these guys. You have LeBron, Anthony Davis, and this Lakers whirlwind kind of haunting you always, good or bad, because you’ll be trending for something. When I got here, he was that fresh fruit that was kind of that golden child. I remember being that and going through the ups and downs. I always tried to take pride in preparing him for what was about to come next if I could and help him see what he was going through. We became fans of each other. I said, “You’re going to be here a long time, bro. You might as well take all this in.” I was preparing his mind for all of that. He had a heck of a summer and came in ready to continue to dominate the game. -via HoopsHype / March 28, 2024

Jovan Buha: Darvin Ham was asked if he wishes he went to this current starting lineup of Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell earlier in the season given Rui’s success as a starter. Here’s his response: pic.twitter.com/zLQqfaddhq -via Twitter @jovanbuha / March 28, 2024

Dave McMenamin: Darvin Ham on Anthony Davis’ status for Friday: “We’ll see [how he is feeling] tomorrow when he wakes up” -via Twitter @mcten / March 27, 2024

Has the birth of Riley and your flow state of mind helped you the past two years? Last year, I was talking to my brother, Tone, and I’m shooting the best numbers I’ve ever shot, and it’s like no one talks about that. That’s what you work towards. People are so analytical nowadays. You work to get to that. Then, I got to it, and it didn’t seem like it was valued. I was like, “Dang, I feel like I could shoot better than that.” This year, I’m shooting career highs again. I’m like, maybe that is tied to the birth of Riley and being a dad. I put the work in. When I broke the record (Lakers single-season 3-pointers made), a lot of my closest people texted me with super sincere messages, and they all had the same common denominator saying, “You put the work in.” That made me smile even more because people around me know how hard I work and how I approach the game. -via HoopsHype / March 28, 2024

How would you describe this Lakers season? D’Angelo Russell: I think we’re much better than our record. We match up, adjust, and do all these different things in the flow of the game. The problem is we’ve got 12 different guys that can be out there. When that random group of five is out there, the familiarity with what we’re trying to do is on the fly. A lot of teams have five or six guys that know they’re always going to have an idea who’s going to be in and where’s this and that. We’ve got a new guy every game because there’s no telling who’s going to be out there because of injuries and other things. It’s a good problem to have. I think that’s why we utilize 82 games a year to prepare for the postseason. So I definitely think we’re better than our record, and we’re still trying to figure it out and hitting our stride. I like where we’re at. -via HoopsHype / March 28, 2024