D'Angelo Russell Has Requested the Locker Next to Kobe Bryant
Proximity to greatness works on people in different ways.
For some, being in the company of one of their profession's all-timers is unhelpfully tense. They shrink away, afraid to disappoint them, earn their ire or, like, accidentally give them a flat tire or something.
Conversely, other people move toward the great ones' energies. They get close, hoping that some of the magic rubs off like shoe polish.
D'Angelo Russell is in the latter of these two groups, and he can't wait to soak in all the wisdom and airborne rage particles he can get this season as a locker neighbor to Kobe Bryant.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News' Mark Medina, the Los Angeles Lakers rookie said he's requested the locker next to Bryant in the hopes that the teammate-next-door setup will make it easier to learn from him.
"I don't know how much longer [Bryant]'s going to be around," Russell said. "So to have the opportunity to pick his brain a little bit every day, I don't have to make it weird by walking to his locker. I'll just look to my right and there he is."
Medina reported that Bryant asked Russell if he was feeling nervous about being the team's first-round pick and the No. 2 overall selection in the 2015 NBA draft.
"I said, 'A little bit. I don't know what's coming my way,'" Russell said. "[Bryant] said, 'This is the same thing you've been preparing for your whole life.' That gave me a boost."
Aww.
That's a nice, veteran move by Bryant, who seems to have moved past Russell's Tracy McGrady/GOAT tweet from August and taken the young kid off his list:
For now.
Dan is on Twitter. Russell's definitely glad he called that guy.
