A source close to Nick Young tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News that D’Angelo Russell hasn’t apologized directly to him, which conflicts with an earlier report that Young had accepted an apology from the rookie for secretly recording his statements about women other than his fiancee. Young chose not to be in the room when Russell apologized to the team as a whole for the incident, Medina hears. Other Lakers teammates indicated through their remarks Wednesday that they’re ready to move past the tension that’s existed since Russell’s recording went public, but Young declined to address the matter beyond a brief statement, as Medina details. “I don’t want to get into my personal life right now,” Young said. “I think it’s best me and D’Angelo handle the situation we have in a private manner outside of the media. I think it’s something we do need to sit down and talk about. That’s about it. What happened is what happened. We have to work on it.”
See more from around the NBA:
- Andrew Bogut reiterated recently that he’d like to reach an extension deal with the Warriors in the offseason, reports Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. Bogut becomes eligible to formally sign an extension October 25th, just as the regular season begins. He first spoke publicly of his desire for an extension in December with Sam Amick of USA Today.
- Rutgers freshman point guard Corey Sanders will enter the draft without an agent, he announced via Twitter (hat tip to Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com). The lack of an agent allows him to return to college ball if he withdraws by May 25th. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress pegs him as just the 73rd-best freshman prospect, and he’s not listed in Chad Ford’s ESPN Insider rankings.
- The Vertical’s Bobby Marks, a former NBA executive, delves into the inner workings of draft promises, a fairly common phenomenon in which a team lets a player know it’ll draft him if he’s available at a certain draft slot. It’s unheard of for teams to renege on promises, and early promises sometimes prompt supposedly long-shot prospects to declare for the draft, knowing the team has their back, as Marks details.
There’s no way the Lakers should bring back Russell and Young next season and keep that toxicity in the locker room. And in that scenario, it’s pretty clear who comes back and who doesn’t.