As much as D'Angelo Russell's rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers has been a roller coaster, his personal life seems to be going more smoothly.
The No. 2 overall pick of the 2015 NBA draft is dating USC volleyball player Niki Withers, according to TMZ Sports and Busted Coverage.
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"He's been upping his performance over the past couple of weeks, Kobe Bryant's farewell tour is just about over, and it looks like he's snagged a girlfriend in USC volleyball player Niki Withers," Busted Coverage reported.
Withers is a junior outside hitter on the Women of Troy team. She played in 12 matches for USC last season after transferring from Cal State Fullerton, where she was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team in 2014.
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Her USC bio lists her at 6 feet, although she reveals that she is 5-10, and she is the sister of Jacksonville Jaguars tight end and former UCLA standout football player Marcedes Lewis.
TMZ Sports shows a video of Niki jumping and hanging onto a basketball rim one-handed. She posted a tweet in February saying she would be able to dunk by this summer, and her Twitter account has a photo of Russell face down on a court in a Lakers uniform.
I'll be dunking by this summer pic.twitter.com/BgwRTmR1HT
— Niki Withers (@nikiwithers) February 6, 2016
Her posted her first Instagram photo of her and Russell together five weeks ago, a couple of weeks before Lakers coach Byron Scott inserted the former Ohio State guard as a starter for the rest of the season, but a couple of weeks after his scoring average started to improve. Russell recently had an eight-game stretch in which he scored more than 20 points seven times and averaged 23.3 points per game.
How much Withers has had to do with his improvement is unclear, but it seems having her as a girlfriend hasn't hurt.
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A photo posted by Niki Withers (@nikiwithers) on Mar 13, 2016 at 11:47am PDT
A photo posted by Niki Withers (@nikiwithers) on Feb 27, 2016 at 6:33pm PST
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