Since returning to the Lakers in a three-team trade on Feb. 9, guard D’Angelo Russell has played a key role in Los Angeles’s surge.
His 17.4 points per game helped the Lakers sneak into the playoffs in the first place, and despite occasional struggles, his contributions have been front and center in his team’s conquests of the Grizzlies and Warriors.
However, Russell has been invaluable in another department aside from assured guard play: comic relief.
Throughout the playoffs, Russell has been trying to advertise Coco5, a drink promoted by Russell and several other NBA players—only to have team personnel remove the drink before his press conference appearances, as only Gatorade drinks are allowed to be displayed per its partnership with the league.
A similar scene played out again late Friday night, as Russell’s drink was summarily taken away while he gave a media relations official the stink eye.
D’Angelo Russell tried to sneak his Coco5 drink into the postgame press conference again. No dice, again. 😂 pic.twitter.com/06fEkIyxlM
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) May 13, 2023
According to The New York Post, which detailed the drink’s origins, Coco5 is “an ‘all-natural fruit-flavored coconut water’ that comes in six flavors.”
Other NBA players involved with the beverage include the Suns’ Devin Booker, the Clippers’ Marcus Morris, the Mavericks’ Markieff Morris and the Knicks’ Derrick Rose.
