D’Angelo Russell broke Nick Van Exel‘s Los Angeles Lakers single-season three-point record last night (3/22) against the Philadelphia 76ers. Van Exel made 183 3s during the 1994-95 NBA season.
Russell has hit 187 3s this season.
“It just feels good to be part of one of these type of deals,” Russell said. “This franchise is one of the most prestigious, so to have my name be a part of it, more than grateful. Just continue to shatter it if I can. Make it really hard for the next person.”
Russell is averaging 18.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists this season while shooting 46.7% from the field, 42.3% from beyond the arc and 80.9% from the free-throw line.
The Lakers beat the Sixers by a final score of 101-94. Russell finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes while shooting 4-of-13 from the floor, 4-of-10 from 3 and 2-of-2 from the foul line.
“Ugly, but we got the job done,” Lakers superstar LeBron James said. “We defended (well) in the second half. They only had 18 (points) in the fourth. That’s big-time when the offense was struggling like it was. … We turned the ball over way too much and gave up too easy baskets, but when we got in the half-court, we buckled down and made them take tough shots.”
The Lakers nearly traded Russell at this year’s NBA trade deadline. LeBron told ESPN he’s happy Russell is still on the roster.
“It takes a strong individual, especially when you’re hearing everything that goes around,” LeBron said of Russell, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “You’re hearing the trade talks, you’re hearing this and that and whatever the case may be and ‘Is D-Lo the right fit?’ or whatever. One thing is, he just don’t waver.”
Los Angeles improved to 38-32 on the season after beating Philadelphia. The team is in ninth place in the Western Conference standings.
If the regular season ended today, the Lakers would face the Golden State Warriors in the 9-10 play-in tournament game.
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