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It started with a feud. D'Angelo Russell was doomed in Los Angeles as soon as his feud with Byron Scott became public. This sounds insane at first. Players feuding with their coach is a perfectly normal part of the NBA and it happens everywhere, especially on teams with Scott. However, what this did to the rookie Russell was label him as "hard to coach" and establish that he brought drama with him.

It's difficult for players to shake these labels, especially when it happens so early in their career. Remember how long it took LeBron James to shed that he wasn't clutch? All because he passed off to Donyell Marshall in a playoff game in 2007. These labels don't just go away. 

The negative precedent was only made worse when the snapchat incident with Nick Young happened. Russell was already seen as someone that was difficult with coaches. Now the public perception was that Russell can't be trusted in a locker room. It was only a matter of time before he and the Lakers parted ways.

Russell's second season went by without too many incidents, but occasionally a rumor would emerge only to be forgotten just as quickly. There was that brief period where first-year coach Luke Walton benched him and an incident in which he pushed Greg Monroe from behind in the middle of a shoving match with the Bucks. Again, nothing major, but occasional small moments that made people scratch their heads. They would have all gone completely unnoticed had the Byron Scott feud and Nick Young incident not happened.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Russell was gone, thrown in with Timofey Mozgov in a clear move to make cap space for Paul George. Russell is the prize for the Nets but considered a burden released by the Lakers. The case can be made that the Lakers made the right basketball move. They're likely to take Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 pick in the draft, and Russell's position overlaps with Ball. Los Angeles' new direction is based on signing free agents, so they needed cap space to do that, which means giving up a valuable asset like Russell to flip Mozgov's albatross contract.

Except, of course it was Russell. The fit in Los Angeles always felt awkward, and off-court stuff only magnified that, which is why going to Brooklyn might be the best thing that could have happened to him. He was in need of a fresh start, somewhere to escape Nick Young, Bryon Scott and everything that had been attached to him with the Lakers. With the Nets he can focus on just playing great basketball with one of the most highly respected development coaches in the NBA. 

Russell's big thing as a player is that he's best in an open floor. The Lakers saw flashes of what he can do when all 6-foot-5 of him is able to get off and running. However, he was also trying to learn the ropes of the NBA with a franchise that had sky high expectations for him. In Brooklyn, not only are those expectations far lower, but he's going to get many more opportunities to run. 

The Nets do nothing but run. Their offense last year led the NBA in pace and that's the type of environment that Russell can thrive in. He'll get his confidence up, rack up numbers and leave all of Los Angeles behind him. This is what Russell needs to do more than anything: Forget L.A. and all the drama that happened there. The Nets can be a fresh start and an escape from everything that has happened.

Breaking labels is difficult, but it's not impossible. This trade is the perfect opportunity. Gone are "hard to coach" and "bad teammate" and replacing them is a former No. 2 overall draft pick living up to his potential. If Russell can manage that then those old labels will be a forgotten memory.