Lakers' D'Angelo Russell Fined $15K for Kicking Ball into Stands After Warriors Game

The NBA announced Monday that Los Angeles Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell was fined $15,000 for kicking the ball into the stands after his team's 145-144 double-overtime win against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

It was an expensive end to an excellent game for Russell, who scored 28 points and added five assists in 49 minutes.

He also came up big in the clutch, hitting a transition three in the final minute to give the Lakers the lead.

Russell has seemed reborn since being reinserted into the starting lineup on Jan. 13, averaging 27.5 points and 6.4 assists across those eight games. The Lakers are 5-3 in those contests and have benefitted from their point guard's change in mentality.

He told reporters that studying the team while he missed games due to injury made him realize he needed to play more aggressively alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis:

"Just being out, I seen us trying really hard to get LeBron and AD the ball, and you find yourself dribbling the ball off your foot or looking crazy trying to force it. You have to be aggressive around these guys. You complement these guys by being aggressive, not passing to them. That's easy to guard, you're easy to guard when it's like that. So just watching it, watching a lot of guys on the team make those decisions and when I came back, I was like 'I'm going to be aggressive in those instances and I'll see how it complements them.' And it's been complementing them so far."

Whether it's enough to keep Russell on the team going forward remains to be seen. The Lakers have been a disappointment this season, going just 24-23 on the year, and if the team is going to make a splash ahead of the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline, Russell will likely be one of the players sent packing.

There will always be questions about Russell's defense or his ability to be a reliable third option come the postseason after he struggled in that role during last year's Western Conference Finals. For now, however, he's playing excellent basketball.