D'Angelo Russell was supposed to be a serviceable stopgap for the Dallas Mavericks until Kyrie Irving returned from his torn ACL injury. That was the vision when the Mavericks signed him to a two-year deal, close to $11.7 million. The Los Angeles Lakers could only snicker from afar at their West rivals.
It is still early in the season, but the Mavericks have not even been able to trust Russell enough to consistently put him in the starting lineup. That has only happened once. Dallas has been forced to experiment with Cooper Flagg at their starting point guard spot.