Nick Young slammed D'Angelo Russell as the reason for the Lakers' playoff loss, and tensions between the two remain high.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are currently in an extremely important offseason with a stake in the future of the team.
Against the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs this season, James played well for most of the game, but Los Angeles ended up losing a double-digit lead in each of their four losses and losing the series with a competitive but still disappointing five-game gentleman's sweep.
One of the players who underperformed in the series was point guard D'Angelo Russell, who struggled with the Nuggets for the second year in a row in the playoffs, causing outrage among Lakers fans, who are fully aware that efficiency isn't always crucial in the playoffs but still want to get more out of their previous lottery picks.
One person who shares this sentiment is D'Angelo Russell's former Lakers teammate Nick Young, who recently gave an interview to YouTuber djvlad in which he slammed D'Angelo Russell's performance.
"I was laughing at [head coach Darwin] Ham at the time, but the Lakers don't have the right people and team," Young said on YouTube (via TheScore's Caitlyn Holroyd).
"They're dependent on D'Angelo Russell, and it's simply – you're killing yourself. That's where you kill yourself and have faith in him. ”
Nick Young didn't stop there and continued to make up for Russell.
"What do you expect? They put their trust in the whistleblower, and this whistleblower will let you down. ”
Of course, D'Angelo Russell and Young were teammates with the Lakers in the 2015-16 season, and the two have quite a rich history between them.
That year, D'Angelo Russell secretly recorded a video of Jan admitting to cheating on his then-partner, rapper Iggy Azalia, and the video eventually made it to the internet, explaining Young's claim that D'Angelo Russell was called a "whistleblower."
Nearly a decade on, the emotional conflict doesn't seem to have diminished at all.
An intriguing decision, the Lakers will definitely need to decide if they really want D'Angelo Russell to be the point guard for LeBron James late in his career (James is expected to sign a contract extension with the Lakers this offseason).
This season could be the best of D'Angelo Russell's career, with the possible exception of his All-Star record with the Brooklyn Nets in 2018-19.
One of the few games where D'Angelo Russell has been outstanding was at home against the Milwaukee Bucks at the end of the season, but he once again struggled on the defensive end and has only played relatively well in two of his five games against the Nuggets.
It's reasonable to doubt that a backcourt duo like D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, who are both excellent on the offensive end but not absolutely solid on the defensive end, would be a good fit for a modern NBA championship team.
Regardless, the Lakers will now look forward to the NBA draft in a little over a month.
One thing to say, LeBron James is likely to get his son Bronny James to the Los Angeles Lakers, and then use the excuse of not trusting Russell to play Bronny James as a substitute, so that Bronny will become the Lakers' rightful starting point guard.
I don't know if Nick Young jumped out to criticize Russell like this and has a good understanding with LeBron James.