Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott has taken criticism both locally and nationally for numerous things this season, from his usage of Kobe Bryant to how poor the team is both offensively and defensively. Perhaps the biggest gripe about Scott, however, has been his treatment of D'Angelo Russell. The coach has criticized the 19-year old rookie in the media on a seemingly weekly basis off the floor, and on the floor has limited his minutes at times and brought him off of the bench.
After participating in the Rising Stars game on Friday night in Toronto as part of the NBA's All-Star Weekend, Jordan Clarkson and Russell were asked about how it felt to play with more freedom in a game that featured little defense and in which both guards had the greenest of green lights. Clarkson gave a canned answer, but when it was Russell's turn to answer, he paused for a few seconds before Clarkson whispered under his breathe "don't say anything crazy," and then gave a similar answer to Clarkson (the question comes at the 3:40 mark of the video, with Clarkson's whisper coming around the 4:11 mark. H/T to Sheen Lee of Lakers Outsiders for catching this):
Russell probably wouldn't have said anything too controversial, but the fact that Clarkson felt he needed to warn him not to is possibly indicative of Russell not exactly appreciating playing 27.1 minutes per game, but often sitting in crunch time while coming off of the bench. It's probably best not to read too much into the exchange, but it certainly was funny at the very least.
All stats per NBA.com. You can follow this author on Twitter at @hmfaigen.