When you find your niche, you just gotta continue to be confident and thrive in it.
D'Angelo Russell
I can control how much work I put in for me to be consistent.
If I miss 20 in a row and coach tells me to keep shooting, that's what I'm going to do.
I knew I wasn't going back to Brooklyn... I never knew exactly. I just kinda - you work with these guys every day. You see the same players, you see the same coaching staff, you see the same trainers every day. So when they start to act a little different, you recognize it... I could feel it.
My dad is one of the smartest guys I know.
You look good. You play good. That's a true statement.
I am tired of talking about what I do or what I am going to do.
It's almost like going to high school before you got to go to college. You felt a little bit better before you got to college. That's how I feel about Brooklyn.
I'm happy that I got an All-Star under my belt.
I hired a full-time chef, so I wasn't taking that time to order pizzas or eat Wild Wings or stuff like that. I travel somewhere, I'm gone for a long period, I have a chef. I think that elevated my game.
I have nothing but great things to say about Brooklyn.
It's hard to be so mentally competitive and when you're not competing you try to turn it off but it doesn't work like that. I don't think you can just turn it off, I think you still find ways to be competitive - if it's playing a video game, if it's playing cards.
The Lakers fanbase is enormous. Getting the fans on our side is a huge advantage for us.
Going around the league, people know, 'Oh, he got in some trouble' or 'He didn't play well his rookie year' or 'He's a bust.' That's the headline. I'm going to have a million more opportunities to create new headlines, and I can't wait. Can't wait.
Some players thrive in the open-style, AAU games - the all-star games. But when it comes to playing in an actual system and having to 'think' the game, you see where some guys separated themselves.
I'll let my game speak for itself.
Kobe was a legend.
If you have your own taste, you know what looks right and what looks good on you versus someone kind of telling you what looks good on you.
I wing my style. I think it's definitely something on how you feel, the weather, that plays a part.
Yeah, once you get a taste of the playoffs - I couldn't imagine not making it back to the playoffs. Give credit to LeBron and those guys who do it so many consecutive years.
Yeah, I consider myself an unpredictable player. A player that's flashy here and there and then is maybe conservative here and there and I think when it comes to dressing, it's me figuring out that balance of when to be flashy or when to be super simple with maybe flashy shoes.
I liked Cleveland, they got so much heart in that arena.
As far as coming out on top with the right mentality and it molding you into the best human being you can be, I think that's what Brooklyn did for me. I became an All-Star, I got to touch the playoffs. To get a piece of that, I'm forever thankful.
Every year you want to keep elevating you. And that's what I want to do.
I want to learn how to stick around this league. I don't think there's a cheat code to it. But the sooner you find it out, the better you'll be.
I got ice in my veins!
The older you get, the more you start to understand your body, so I try to just focus on my body every summer.
I'd be a race car driver. I love fast cars.
I appreciate the city of New York just embracing me, and Brooklyn in general.
I know my work ethic and know what I've put in to get where I'm at.
It can be easy to just be a professional half the time, and you may see half the results, but when you're consistent, you can see your full results and you can pan out to be who you want to be year by year.
It's hard to keep a positive attitude coming to work every day, feeling like you're getting better when the same result is losing.
The coaches that I've had, my teammates that I've met throughout this journey, it's something that you can't take away. It almost feels like a degree. You can't take that away from somebody.
The league has changed in so many ways. There are no point guards anymore, there are no centers anymore; it's all positionless basketball.
I'm a dog lover - I've had them since I was younger.
Not a lot of teams take you into consideration, like a lot of teams can easily decide to if you're hurt or anything, make you go play.
I'm part-time vegan. I try to be vegan when I can. But I dip and dive in everywhere.
I want to be me - and people know it's me. I don't want: 'He's trying to act like Kobe' or 'His answers are like something Kobe would've said.' Nah. If it's me, I'm going to say it.
I always had the confidence. The platform, guys getting injured and giving me multiple opportunities, that has allowed me to showcase it.
It's always good to be a trendsetter.
I wasn't really a fashionable guy in high school.
It's hard to come off the bench and be ready all the time.
I can't be funny, goofy, happy go lucky all the time.
There's a lot of spoiled Lakers fans.
L.A. has so much to offer. So I want to take advantage of it.
Everyone in the league has a journey or a legacy, whether you're in the league for five years or you're in the league for one year.
Like, if you get close enough to me you'll see how I really am.
I consider myself a trendsetter.
There is a lot of extra energy with being in a Lakers uniform.
It's easy to be just a basketball player, get paid and come here to do that. But to be professional about it is different.