After being traded to the Lakers mid-season, D’Angelo Russell played with a freedom and excitement that he didn’t always have in Minnesota. The Timberwolves certainly allowed him to be the playmaker he is after coveting him for years, but it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine at the end of their tenure together, hence him being traded.
Once he settled in with the Lakers and found success, the story was always going to come about where things went wrong in Minnesota. But when it came to light in a piece by Sam Amick of The Athletic, it came with the fiery quote in which Russell said he was “held back” in Minnesota.