Lakers News: Nick Young Wants To Box D'Angelo Russell
We've got an update on one of the all-time great beefs between Lakers teammates (this side of Kobe and Shaq, Kobe and Dwight, Kobe and Smush Parker, Kobe and Kwame Brown, Kobe and Karl Malone, and Kobe and Chris Mihm). It turns out, there remains zero love lost between Nick Young and D'Angelo Russell.
12-year NBA veteran shooting guard Nick Young recently spoke with Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix for an interview on The Volume. When asked which NBA player he would want to face off against in the boxing ring one day, Nick Young didn't waste any time.
"Of course D-Lo, D'Angelo," Young said. "Some guys on the Warriors, some guys on the Lakers. Couple coaches."
Mannix joked that he figured the 6'7" Young, who last played for the Denver Nuggets during the 2018-19 season, could "make a lot of money fighting D'Angelo Russell."
Young and Russell were of course teammates on your Los Angeles Lakers from 2015-17. However, their relationship fizzled after Russell secretly recorded and leaked footage of Young admitting to his teammates that he had cheated on his then-fiancee, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, during Russell's 2015-16 rookie season. Azalea left Young after discovering the video.
Russell's Lakers teammates were apparently upset with him for what they viewed as a breach of trust, and he was offloaded to the Brooklyn Nets along with center Timofey Mozgov's bloated contract in exchange for the draft rights to Kyle Kuzma and North Hollywood native Brook Lopez.
Both players enjoyed an uptick in their professional success while apart from each other. Young would go on to win an NBA title with the Golden State Warriors as bench shooter, while Russell would make an All-Star team in Brooklyn, agree to a lucrative sign-and-trade to the Golden State Warriors, and then be sent to the Minnesota Timberwolves to play alongside fellow 2015 lottery pick Karl-Anthony Towns.
The 6'4" combo guard played an integral part on the club's 46-36 2021-22 season, starting alongside current Laker Patrick Beverley for the team's hard-fought six-game series against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Russell responded today with a bitter Twitter missive:
While Young's NBA career is so over he's thinking about boxing anyone who annoyed him during his playing days, Russell is still in his prime. Last year, the 26-year-old averaged 18.1 points on .411/.340/.825 shooting splits, plus 7.1 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1 steals.
