Nick Young clearly has a Ph. D in the art of hating.
The former Los Angeles Lakers swingman Young had an interview with VladTV that was released this week. During the interview, Young took some time to address the Lakers’ struggles this postseason and placed the blame squarely on his ex-teammate D’Angelo Russell.
“I was making fun of [former Lakers head coach Darvin] Ham, but the Lakers just didn’t have the staff, the team,” Young said. “They depended on D-Lo, and that’s just, you’re asking to lose. You’re asking to lose right there, putting your faith in that.
“What do you expect? They put their faith in the snitch,” Young later added. “And the snitch let you down. They tried to bring the snitch back like it was going to work this time!”
Russell, who is on his second stint with the Lakers, was largely awful in the series against Denver, posting 14.2 points and 4.2 assists per game on under 39 percent shooting from the field. That came after a 2023 playoff series with the Nuggets in which Russell was actually even worse for the Lakers.
But when it comes to Young, there is a much deeper history with Russell. He still loathes Russell for exposing him for cheating on his then-fiancée Iggy Azalea back when they were teammates on the Lakers in 2016 (read about that saga here). Russell earned a reputation as a “snitch” as a result of the whole episode, and Young still thinks that it is an appropriate label today.
Of course, that was eight years ago by now, and Russell has since gone from a 20-year-old kid to a 28-year-old veteran. But Young still won’t let go of the feud and recently even offered to fight Russell in a boxing match.
