D'Angelo Russell

D’Angelo Russell’s Shanghai Sharks move in September 2026 opened his first professional chapter outside the NBA. The guard entered the league as the Lakers’ second overall pick in 2015 and went on to play for five NBA clubs, with a Brooklyn All-Star season in 2019 marking the high point of his scoring and playmaking reputation. His arrival in China followed an unusually indirect route through Washington and Memphis, neither of which featured an NBA game appearance for him. Buckets brings together his verified NBA and CBA identity while retaining their separate competition records.

Russell developed from a highly regarded Lakers draft selection into a lead NBA guard, ultimately earning his sole All-Star appearance with Brooklyn in 2018–19. That Nets season included averages of 21.1 points and seven assists per game. His wider NBA career took him through Golden State and Minnesota, back to Los Angeles and Brooklyn, and finally Dallas. In 26 Mavericks appearances during 2025–26 he averaged 10.2 points and four assists, but did not finish the season there. Dallas traded him to Washington in February 2026; he never appeared for the Wizards. Washington moved him to Memphis in a July multi-team deal, and the Grizzlies waived him before training camp on 25 September. Shanghai’s signing was reported on 30 September. The chronology matters: the records establish an NBA career and a new CBA club, not fictional Washington or Memphis playing seasons. Current Chinese competition statistics remain subject to Buckets’ separate source and publication checks.