The Los Angeles Lakers made waves on Tuesday when they dealt young point guard D'Angelo Russell and center Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Brook Lopez and the No. 27 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.That could signal that the Lakers are set on drafting former UCLA star Lonzo Ball, who also plays the point guard position and would thus make Russell expendable.Still, dealing Russell - who was the No. 2 overall pick in 2015 - was a bit surprising, especially when you consider what new Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson said about Russell a couple of years ago.As you can see in the tweets below, Johnson was thrilled when the Lakers selected Russell, calling him a future superstar and saying he couldn't wait to start working with the Ohio State product on the court:

Even as recently as February, Johnson tweeted that he had spoken with Russell and was looking forward to working with the budding young star:

Of course, Johnson is allowed to change his mind as more opportunities and information become available to him, but it is odd to see such an outspoken supporter of Russell's suddenly ship him off in what basically amounts to a salary dump to get out from under Mozgov's atrocious contract.

Interestingly, Lonzo Ball had recently spoken with ESPN reporter Jeff Goodman and said, as you can see in this video, some nice things about Russell and sounded like he was excited to play alongside him:

“I think we could play really well," he said. "If you saw the last 20 games, he was actually doing really well. I feel he is more a two-guard than a point guard. I think he can compliment my game just on the fact he can score and shoot. So I just I like to just run the floor and I can just give him the ball and he can just put the ball in the basket. “

Now, that potential guard combo won't get a chance to take the floor together, as Russell will have his hands full trying to turn the Nets' franchise around.

However, if the Lakers can land Paul George this year to play alongside Ball and Lopez, Russell will soon become an afterthought in Los Angeles.

Then, when you factor in the rumors that LeBron James may want to head west to play in LA in 2018, it seems the Lakers could very quickly put together a super-team that can rival what the Golden State Warriors have assembled.