A former NBA player thinks Bam Adebayo had no right to pass Kobe Bryant to claim the mantle of the second-highest single-game points total in league history.
Longtime NBA winger Nick Young was a guest on “Gil’s Arena” on Wednesday and had a profane reaction to the Miami Heat center’s 83-point game against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday. Young said he would have stopped at 81 points if he had a game like that, and went off on Adebayo and the Wizards for making it happen.
“F–k Bam and the Wizards. F–k all that s–t. All that ‘records are supposed to be broken?’ Hell no,” Young said. “Bam’s nice but he’s not 83 nice. Kobe’s probably rolling over in his grave right now like ‘You? F–k that.’ You see how he was going for it at 74? That was nasty.
“Get out of the game. You’re winning by 30. If I had 81 I would’ve stopped. I’m not trying to get fouled with one minute left up 30.”
Young spent three seasons as Bryant’s teammate with the Lakers and has always been very protective of Kobe’s legacy. Of course, that legacy is secure whether Bryant’s 81-point game gets surpassed or not, and it’s pretty hard to believe that Young would have stopped trying to score had he been in Adebayo’s shoes.
The fact that it was a player like Adebayo who achieved the game he did seemed to make it more shocking in the eyes of many. Young obviously does not like it, but he appears to be in the minority.
