Tag: Nick Young

Former USC basketball star Nick Young talks with Gilbert Arenas on hoops and more

Nick Young talks ball and beyond. Swaggy P has plenty to reflect on.

Nick Young might be most remembered for his reaction to a shot which did not go through the basket. He is a player who created many comedic moments on and off the court. Purely within popular culture, a lot of younger basketball fans remember Nick Young for the times when he wasn’t at his best. However, when you get past those funny moments, Nick Young had a very respectable, productive, and lucrative career.

In a review of USC NBA draft picks in the 21st century, published a few years ago, we noted that “Swaggy P averaged 11.4 points per game over a decade long career in the NBA, mostly with the Wizards and Lakers.”

USC has sent a steady stream of players to the NBA over the past several years, with Jordan McLaughlin, Chimezie Metu, Onyeka Okongwu, the Mobley brothers, and others making their way to the pro game. Isaiah Collier should be a lottery pick in 2024, and Boogie Ellis should definitely get drafted. Kobe Johnson might have a chance to get drafted, but if he isn’t, he should certainly get some tryouts and a possible chance to get a two-way contract. Nick Young is part of a larger story of NBA success coming from USC.

Here he is in a conversation with Gilbert Arenas:

https://www.youtube.com/live/qBXZ-3CCfQ4?si=tVyr5oz5PJHXc13Q

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Which Lakers have participated in the NBA’s 3-Point Contest?

A look back at the Lakers players who competed in the NBA’s Three-Point Contest during All-Star Saturday.

On Saturday at NBA All-Star weekend, Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks won his second straight 3-point contest. It was definitely “Dame Time” in Indianapolis. He hit his final attempt to edge Trae Young and Karl-Anthony Towns in the final round.

The contest was started during the 1985-86 season, six years after the 3-point shot made its way into the league. Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics won the first three contests. Several years later, the Chicago Bulls’ Craig Hodges became the only other player to win the competition three straight times.

While the Los Angeles Lakers have never been known as an elite 3-point shooting team despite their illustrious history, they have had three participants in the 3-point contest over the years.

Nick Young actually wore jean shorts to play in the USC alumni basketball scrimmage

Nick Young did his best impersonation of Larry Bird.

At this point, we simply shouldn’t be surprised when Nick Young does something a bit out of the ordinary.

The former NBA wing, perhaps best known for prematurely celebrating a missed 3-pointer, has said some wild things over the years. But his latest antics may be surprising to anyone who has ever hooped at even a mildly competitive level.

Young, also famously known as Swaggy P, recently attended a scrimmage for USC alum versus current players on the Trojans roster. Joined by players like Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley, the 38-year-old had a very surprising outfit that he decided to wear on the court.

Young actually wore jean shorts while he was playing this game.

If it sounds crazy to ball in anything but basketball shorts, that’s because it absolutely is a reckless decision.

The mobility offered by mesh shorts is about a thousand times more than anything you could ever get while wearing denim, no matter the length. But even though it sounds like something you would read about in The Onion, it isn’t actually as unheard of as you might expect.

Larry Bird, a three-time MVP, actually showed up to his first collegiate scrimmage with his brother and his friend while wearing similar attire. Here is more from Seth Davis (via SI.com):

“When the trio arrived at the gym, they were wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes. Hodges offered to get them some basketball gear, but they declined. They were used to playing in jeans, even if they were running outdoors in the dead of summer. Hodges offered a second time to get them shorts and basketball sneakers, but they again said that’s okay; they’d just as soon play in their jeans.”

So maybe Young was actually just paying tribute to Larry Legend?

Young posted on Instagram that “hoopers can hoop in anything” and that actually, his jorts look good.

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Nick Young: Lakers would defeat Nuggets in first round of the playoffs

“Swaggy P” feels the Lakers will handle the Nuggets should the two teams meet to begin the NBA playoffs this April.

Many things are up in the air for the Los Angeles Lakers as they fight to climb the Western Conference standings and get into the playoff picture.

With a 28-32 record, they’re currently 1.5 games behind the New Orleans Pelicans for 10th place and 3.5 games behind the sixth-place Dallas Mavericks, who they will play on Sunday.

Many believe there is a good chance L.A. will at least make it to the play-in tournament, which could mean a first-round playoff date with the top-seeded Denver Nuggets if it were to win the tournament.

Although the Nuggets have the third-best record in the NBA, former Laker Nick Young thinks LeBron James and crew would defeat Nikola Jokic’s team if they were to meet in the first round of the playoffs (h/t Lakers Daily).

The Lakers and Nuggets tied their season series 2-2, with both of L.A.’s wins coming at home. However, in the two teams’ last meeting, in which Denver won 122-109, neither James nor Anthony Davis suited up.

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A quick reminder why D’Angelo Russell’s first Lakers’ stint ended in chaos (taking Nick Young down with him)

Remember the Nick Young taping incident? Now you will.

The Russell Westbrook trade from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Utah Jazz also got D’Angelo Russell to reunite with the franchise that drafted him with the second overall pick in 2015.

That’s right, Russell is a Laker again. And you may not remember — or know — what happened the last time Russell was a Laker.

It was back in 2016 that a video leaked of Russell and then-teammate Nick Young chatting. Young was talking about cheating on his then-fiancee, rapper Iggy Azalea … and that video somehow leaked on to the internet.

At the end of that season, the Lakers dealt Russell to the Nets, and Magic Johnson revealed the reasoning was the guard’s video:

Six years later, even though Young had said he would forgive Russell, Young said he’d want to fight Russell.

So, uh, welcome back to LA.

Nick Young foolishly thinks he is one of the 75 best players to ever play for the Lakers

Nick Young ranks outside of the top 100 in total win shares while with the Lakers.

If you were to start naming the best players to ever suit up for the Los Angeles Lakers, how long would it take to even consider Nick Young?

The L.A. Times Sports staff revealed the results of that ambitious question. Their experts only looked at players who played at least 100 games with the franchise. Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Shaquille O’Neal topped the list.

One player who felt like he was shorted, however, was Nick “Swaggy P” Young. He tweeted: “The hate is real why ya’ll hate me but love me..” after the results of the poll were posted online.

Young ranks outside of the top 100 (behind role players like Ronny Turiaf and JaVale McGee) in total win shares while with the Lakers.

Among all players who played at least 100 games for the Purple and Gold, Young’s defensive box-plus minus ranks second-worst in franchise history.

He had 228 assists in 220 games during his time with the team between 2013 and 2017. For comparison, guard Kendall Marshall joined the roster during the same season. He recorded 477 assists over the course of 54 games during the one season he suited up for the Lakers.

Young, however, does rank among the top 60 in total turnovers recorded while with Los Angeles.

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JR Smith claims he, Jamal Crawford, Nick Young, Boston Celtics alums Isaiah Thomas, Joe Johnson blackballed by NBA

The former Lakers and Cavs champ believes a number of veterans are being blackballed by the league.

Former NBAer JR Smith recently claimed he, Jamal Crawford, and former Boston Celtics alumni Isaiah Thomas and Joe Johnson were “blackballed” from the NBA in a recent interview with Complex’s Pierce Simpson. “Anybody can sit here and tell you that that’s a fact,” suggested Smith.

“You’ve got those 30 teams, or the top three people on each of those 30 teams, and exclude them. Give me the fourth through 15th man, just the fourth through the 15th,” the two-time NBA champion continued. “Name one of them that’s better than me. I’m sitting here like, ‘Bro, I’ve worked out with these dudes.'”

“I’ve watched their GM come up to me and ask me, ‘Yo, why aren’t you playing?'” he added. “You know why I’m not playing.”

“I feel like it’s a whole genre that happened to the Joe Johnsons who obviously still got game, still can play,” Smith opined. “Jamal Crawford still got game, still can play. Nick Young, still got game, still can play. Isaiah Thomas, still got game, still can play.”

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

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Nick Young and D’Angleo Russell are still feuding all these years later and that sucks to see

They’re still mad at each other over this???

It’s been six whole years since a video D’Angelo Russell took of Nick Young admitting to cheating on his (then) girlfriend Iggy Azalea leaked to the public.

Obviously, that situation blew up and disrupted the Lakers’ team chemistry. In the immediate aftermath, Nick Young said he’d forgiven Russell for the video. But, all these years later, however, it’s pretty clear that hasn’t actually happened. Or, at the very least, it hasn’t put these two on friendlier terms.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, Young said he’d love to get in the boxing ring and fight with D’Angelo Russell.

“Mannix: Is there an NBA player you’d like to get in the ring with someday?

Young: Of course. You know, D’Lo. D’Angelo [Russell].

Mannix: Everyone was waiting for that one.”

And, OF COURSE, that’s the answer to that question. To be fair to Young, it didn’t really seem like he was being too serious about it. But when D’Angelo Russell caught wind of this, he very clearly didn’t find any of it funny.

He insisted that he didn’t actually leak the video. Again.

This is just a mess y’all. There’s no other way to really describe it. These two still have beef over something that happened six years ago where, clearly, they were both wrong in some way.

Young, very obviously, should not have been cheating Azalea. Then this isn’t even a thing. On Russell’s part, he obviously shouldn’t have been recording Young secretly. That’s not cool — even if he didn’t leak it. You don’t do that.

All that aside, this was six years ago. It’s sad to see these two former teammates haven’t reconciled this at all in any way. Hopefully, they can get to that point someday.

If not, it seems, maybe we’ll get a boxing match out of it.

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Malik Monk reveals that he avoids tattoos on shooting arm because of Nick Young

Malik Monk’s right arm is strictly for buckets.

When you watch Malik Monk play for the Los Angeles Lakers, there is a fairly obvious comparison that comes to mind whenever he takes the floor.

Monk is a score-first gunner and a flashy player most useful as a high-volume offensive threat in the second unit. Although he isn’t exactly much of a passer or defender, his ability to heat up fast as a scorer makes it worth dealing with his inefficiencies and inconsistencies.

It feels awfully similar to how many would describe former Lakers wing, Nick Young, who is perhaps more famously known by his nickname, Swaggy P. As it turns out, Monk told reporters that he actually was inspired by Young.

Monk, however, didn’t mention anything about their similar playing styles.

The 23-year-old, who is already in his fifth season in the league, explained to reporters that he was actually inspired by Young’s tattoos.

During his time in the NBA, Young said that he only had tattoos on his left arm because his right arm was “strictly for buckets” and that resonated with Monk. The former Kentucky standout has tattoos covering his left arm but he doesn’t have any on his right arm.

Back in 2017, my colleague Andrew Joseph wrote an excellent feature on Monk. Here is what he said about Monk’s ink and body art:

Malik initially planned on getting one tattoo. He didn’t like the pain, but those plans quickly changed because, as Marcus insisted, “They’re addictive.” His tattoos tell the story of the people and place that made him who he is – his family and Lepanto. That is where Marcus, who is 12 years older than Malik, grew up before becoming a star wide receiver at Arkansas and a two-sport professional athlete.

Monk has scored at least 18 points in four of the last five games for the Lakers. He has started just six games for Los Angeles so far this season, however, his team has won four of those games.

Who knows whether his success has anything to do with the fact that his right arm is too sacred for ink? However, he’s playing well of late, and that alone is reason enough for fans of the Lakers to get excited.

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Nick Young makes sexist NCAA tournaments comment on Instagram, claims his account was hacked

Awful.

Former NBA star Nick Young weighed in on the awful disparity between the women’s and men’s teams in Indianapolis at their respective NCAA tournaments, with athletes showing the stark differences between weight rooms and food offerings on social media.

Per multiple tweets screengrabbing from an ESPN Instagram post, his @swaggyp1 account replied, “Man y’all not bringing in the big bucks y’all the JV team and it’s cool.”

That’s, of course, horribly sexist and very, very wrong.

Young then appeared to address the comments on his Twitter account, claiming he was hacked and that “I love women I would never !”

Here’s what was said:

The comment appears to have been deleted when we went through the post. Ugh, all around.

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