Los Angeles Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell brought us a phenomenal Kobe Bryant impersonation on Wednesday, even if he didn’t mean for it to be as good as it was.
In a game of 1-on-1 with Lakers player development coach Thomas Scott during practice, Russell called out “Kobe” before imitating some of the five-time champion’s mannerisms and jacking up a fadeaway jumper from the baseline.
Russell airballed it.
The jokes write themselves. D'Angelo says he's about to imitate Kobe. Then D'Angelo airballs a shot https://t.co/2zdFhE1l9E
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) December 9, 2015
Mark Medina of of the L.A. Daily News, who took the video, stressed that Russell accidentally missed the shot. The ball just barely sailed over the back of the rim, so we doubt the rookie was trying to mock Kobe.
But the timing is pretty bad. Russell played with the second team in Monday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, and he made some comments after the game that could be interpreted as a swipe at Bryant. Russell is also the same guy who ruffled feathers with this tweet before the season.
We’ll wait for Kobe’s response.
