Veteran guard Nick Young isn’t expected to see much – if any – playing time down the stretch this season, as the Lakers take a closer look at several of their younger players. However, Young enjoyed a bounce-back season in 2016/17, putting him in an interesting situation this summer as he decides whether or not to opt in for the final year of his contract.
Back in the fall, it was no sure thing that Young would even be a Laker this season. Coming off the worst season of his career, in which he averaged just 7.3 PPG and shot a dismal 33.9% from the field, Young was considered a candidate to be traded or released. Instead, he stuck with the Lakers and bumped his numbers up to 13.2 PPG and a .430 FG% — both marks are better than his career averages.
“I got a chance to play and show Nick Young again after going through everything I went through,” Young said this week, per Mark Medina of The Orange County Register. “That’s the best part of everything, being able to play. You think you won’t be in the league last year. Then you start 60 games.”
Heading into the offseason with the opportunity to become a free agent after boosting his stock this year, Young would certainly be justified in turning down his $5.67MM player option in search of a more lucrative deal. With the salary cap set to exceed $100MM, Young’s player option salary would be modest for a productive rotation piece, and players of his caliber easily exceeded that figure in free agency a year ago — the contracts signed by teammates Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov are two arguments in favor of Young opting out.
Still, Young and his agent Mark Bartelstein say that decision hasn’t been made yet, according to Medina. Although Young suggested with a smile that he’d be a “wanted man” this summer, he also pointed out that he loves playing in his hometown, near his family. If the Lakers indicate that they won’t be willing to engage in a bidding war to retain him if he declines his player option, opting in might be his only chance to remain in L.A.
“It’s tough. There’s new management and you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Young said. “The Lakers are going to do something this offseason, of course. So we’ll wait and see what their options are.”
Young has until June 21 to opt in or out, so he still has some time to weigh his own options before making his decision official.
Move on Clarkson just took over
Nick Young is irrelevant for basketball. How is this even a story?
This is a tough decision for him on one hand he did have pretty nice year and could think other teams might want him plus his role on the team probably diminishes since they’d rather go younger. On the other hand I think teams still see him as a distraction that’s not worth investing in heavily. I’m going to be interested in what he decides.
Bye Bye
Why the hate? Swaggy P has shown over the course of his Laker career (other than 2015-16) that he is a good NBA player. He’s no max player, but he can help you win. I for one hopes he opts in. While I’m all for the Lakers youth movement, you always need some veteran scoring.