Transitioning from college to the NBA is no easy task, and Dallas Mavericks guard D’Angelo Russell spoke about it on the latest episode of The Backyard Podcast. Russell, who entered the NBA out of Ohio State back in 2015, spoke about the biggest adjustment that players have to make.
“Preparing for all these games,” Russell said. “Remember in college, you used to look at your schedule and you see 21 games on the schedule or 23 games, you’d be like, ‘Oh, cool.’ Now it’s like 80 plus games, and this is a team that’s going to win. So, you’re going to play 80 plus games, and you got to prepare yourself for that now.
“The sooner you can prepare yourself for that mentally, the better,” Russell said. “Any young players out there that are trying to become a pro… prepare yourself for the duration of the season. Look at how many games you got. Look at where. Okay, we’re traveling a lot more in this span of games. We’re home a little more here. You start to plan around those things.”
Russell played 35 games for the Buckeyes in the 2014-15 college basketball season, and that number was going to increase more than two-fold in the NBA. He stressed that rookies need to prepare themselves physically and mentally for that long grind in the lead-up to their debut campaigns.
Russell managed to cope with that increased workload fairly well. The Los Angeles Lakers had selected him with the second pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, and he’d play 80 games in the 2015-16 season. He averaged 13.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game and made the All-Rookie Second Team.
There is just one player on that Mavericks roster who’ll be making that transition from college to the NBA this year, and that’s Cooper Flagg. Flagg, the first pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, played in 37 games for Duke last season, and you’d imagine Russell would have talked with him about the need to prepare.
The Mavericks will also be relying on Flagg to deliver from the get-go. With Kyrie Irving still recovering from his torn ACL, the rookie looks likely to spend some time playing point guard. Head coach Jason Kidd had Flagg play that role in the Summer League, and it will be interesting to see what kind of an impact he makes.
Should Flagg struggle a bit, then Russell will be tasked with playing a bigger role in the offense. The Mavericks signed the one-time All-Star to a two-year, $13 million deal this offseason.
Russell had averaged 12.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game for the Lakers and Brooklyn Nets in 2024-25. The 29-year-old believes he is still in the prime of his career, and he has a big incentive to be at his best in 2025-26.
Russell can become a free agent in 2026 by opting out of his player option for 2026-27. A strong campaign could see him in line for one last big payday in the NBA.
