The Los Angeles Lakers made a shocking decision when they traded D'Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets in a move to save salary space.

Timofey Mozgov's contract was horrendous, but attaching the 21-year-old point guard who's played just two full NBA season - one of which was under head coach Byron Scott - would seem to be a steep price to pay to accomplish that. 

The Lakers are dreaming big, hoping to lure not one by two max contract superstars to the purple and gold by the end of free agency in the summer of 2018. Their big target? LeBron James, who could test the waters one last time next year. 

President of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka made their first major mark in the franchise, shipping away the point guard that many fans put their hopes in. Now, they've moved on to a new point guard taken with the No. 2 pick in Lonzo Ball.

Ball and Russell could have worked together, on paper, but the Lakers ultimately felt there was no need for it. They want Lonzo to be the unquestioned leader, which is something Magic noted the team was lacking while he discussing why the team traded D'Angelo. 

"D'Angelo is an excellent player. He has the talent to be an All-Star. We want to thank him fro what he did for us, but what I needed was a leader. I needed somebody also that can make the other players better and also [somebody] that players want to play with," Johnson said of Russell, as transcribed by Baxter Holmes of ESPN

That's some serious shade being thrown at D'Angelo, which certainly seemed like an unnecessary shot at a player that's no longer pat of the franchise via trade. Questions surrounding D'Angelo maturity and leadership qualities have popped up in various "sourced" reports in recent months,  and Magic's comments all but confirmed the Lakers' thinking.

Russell held his introductory press conference in Brooklyn on Monday, beginning his new journey with a new jersey. D'Angelo, when told about what Magic said about him, decided to take the high ground around the touchy subject.

"I'm just excited to be here... it's the past, so it's irrelevant, honestly," he said, per Malika Andrews of  the New York Times

That's the best thing possible for Russell to say, not falling into the trap of the blame game or proving that he's as immature as the Lakers' front office may believe he is. D'Angelo could have fire back, but he didn't. His revenge is best served on the court, anyway.