On Vince Carter's jersey retirement night, Brooklyn couldn't overcome the Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat, falling 106-97. D'Angelo Russell led the Nets with 22 points and six assists, but a joint 42-point effort by Tyler Herro and Haywood Highsmith all but neutralized his output.

After the Los Angeles Lakers traded Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Nets last month in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, he dropped 22 points off the bench in his season debut with Brooklyn in a 130-113 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 1.

Brooklyn Nets guard D'Angelo Russell discussed trying to move on from the tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers before he dropped 19 points.

The Nets lost to the Heat 106-97 despite Brooklyn getting 22 points and six assists out of D'Angelo Russell along with 22 points and three steals from Keon Johnson. The Nets began

Russell has appeared in six of the Nets' 11 games after joining the team in a Dec. 29 trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. The 28-year-old has averaged 13.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game on 41.7 percent shooting from the field and 36.7 percent from three.

As the calendar turned toward 2025, the Los Angeles Lakers made a bold roster move, trading D'Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for versatile forward Dorian Finney-Smith and sharpshooter Gabe Vincent.