Nick Young Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Rift Develops Between D’Angelo Russell, Teammates

March 30th, 2016 at 11:58am CST by Chuck Myron

11:58am: Russell didn’t mean for the video to become public, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) and Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding (video link). Russell posted the video to Snapchat and quickly deleted it, thinking no one would ever see it, according to Ding, but sources tell Kennedy that Russell’s Snapchat account was hacked.

8:44am: Lakers players are furious with D’Angelo Russell over what one team insider described as a prank gone wrong, report Baxter Holmes and Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Teammates are ostracizing Russell, who recorded a private conversation in which Nick Young spoke about being with women other than his fiancee, the Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, according to Holmes and Stein. It’s a disconcerting situation that builds on existing trust issues within the locker room, a team source told Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com for the story.

Some within Lakers brass are upset with Russell, too, but they’ve left the matter to the players thus far, Holmes and Stein write. Coach Byron Scott has notoriously harped on Russell’s maturity, work ethic and attitude, and several team sources who spoke with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News levied the same criticisms even before the video. Team officials see the video controversy as an example of the 20-year-old rookie’s immaturity, writes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, though a source told Bresnahan that Lakers players have been pulling pranks on each other throughout the season. Russell shot the video a couple of months ago, Bresnahan hears, but it didn’t surface publicly until the gossip website Fameolous.com posted it a few days ago.

Young and Russell were friends, with the swingman at times publicly sticking up for last year’s No. 2 overall pick, but sources who spoke with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News believe the now-strained friendship is beyond repair. Young went out of his way to avoid crossing Russell’s path at Staples Center before Friday’s game, according to Medina. No Lakers would sit with Russell for a recent breakfast meeting, Holmes and Stein hear. Another time, Lou Williams stood up and walked away when Russell sat next to him in the locker room, according to Holmes and Stein.

Young hasn’t played in the last 10 Lakers games, though the two most recent absences were because he was suffering from gastroenteritis. The first eight were coach’s decisions, with the ninth-year veteran suffering through a career-worst season. He’s under contract through 2017/18, though he can opt out in the summer of 2017. Russell is in the first season of a four-year rookie scale deal.

And-Ones: Morris, Kings, Gasol

February 15th, 2016 at 11:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns want a package that includes a younger player and a first-round pick for power forward Markieff Morris, several league executives told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Phoenix has no intention of bringing back Morris next season but GM Ryan McDonough could wait until the summer to deal him if he doesn’t get the desired package, Wojnarowski continues. Phoenix already owns five first-rounders over the next three drafts, which motivates McDonough to get more than just a pick for Morris, Wojnarowski adds.

In other news around the league:

The Kings and Magic are under internal pressure to make the playoffs and that increases the chances of those teams making a deadline deal, David Aldridge of NBA.com tweets. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac were also canvassing league officials during the All-Star break on possible GM candidates, Wojnarowski reported in his trade deadline update. Divac holds the title of GM but the team is looking for someone who has more experience working with the collective bargaining agreement to assist him, as Wojnarowski details.
The Knicks could make a play for the Bulls’ Pau Gasol, an unrestricted free agent this summer, even though center is not a clear position of need, Marc Berman of the New York Post opines. A source told Berman that money isn’t a primary concern for Gasol, which bodes well for the Knicks. Gasol is one of Knicks president Phil Jackson’s favorite players and he would make a perfect mentor to rookie power forward Kristaps Porzingis, Berman continues. The Knicks could attempt to trade current starter Robin Lopez to open up a spot for Gasol and might also clear cap space sooner by dealing backup big man Kyle O’Quinn, whom they’ve reportedly offered around, before the trade deadline, Berman adds.
Lakers reserve shooting guard Nick Young is hopeful of getting traded to a playoff-bound team, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The club wants to move Young, as it tried to do during last season’s trade deadline and the offseason, but has struggled to find a taker, Medina continues. Young has two years and approximately $11.1MM remaining on his contract after this season, with a player option on the final year.
There is only a slim possibility that the Warriors will make a trade before Thursday’s deadline, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Lakers Make Bass, Young, Williams Available

January 29th, 2016 at 8:10am CST by Chuck Myron

Lakers veterans Brandon Bass, Nick Young and Lou Williams are available on the trade market, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. So, too, is Roy Hibbert, Stein writes, advancing an earlier report from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that the Lakers are looking to trade the center to a likely playoff team. It’s all seemingly a recognition of the inevitable for the Lakers front office, with the team just one loss behind the Sixers in the Reverse Standings and legitimate hope of a playoff berth dashed. All except Hibbert have at least one year left on their respective contracts, as Stein points out, though Bass could hit free agency this summer if he turns down his $3.135MM player option for next season.

Bass has taken a reduced role since signing with the Lakers this past offseason, coming off the bench in all 40 appearances and averaging 18.0 minutes per game after making 43 starts and playing 23.5 minutes a night last year with the Celtics. Brad Stevens remains a fan, though he’s not quite the star target the Celtics have long been coveting.

It’s no surprise to see Young on the block, since the Lakers reportedly explored the market for him this past summer before retreating from the effort, having found no worthwhile offers. Young said he found the trade rumors “confusing” and “motivating”, and he’s seen his playing time cut drastically. The 30-year-old who’s making more than $5.219MM this season is averaging only 7.7 points in 19.1 minutes per game, his lowest numbers in either category since 2007/08, his rookie season. Young’s contract runs through 2017/18, a player option year.

The free agent acquisition of Williams helped marginalize Young in the Lakers rotation. The NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year is having the best season statistically among those the team has apparently placed on the market, averaging the same 15.5 points per game he did last year. He signed a three-year, $21MM deal this past summer.

It’s unclear exactly what the Lakers want in exchange for their veterans, though presumably they’re looking for assets that could help them next season and beyond. They’re only barely above the salary cap with about $72MM in team salary, so cost-cutting is unlikely a major concern.

Who or what do you think the Lakers should target in return for their vets? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Lakers Rumors: Brown, Scott, World Peace, Bryant

January 10th, 2016 at 10:01am CST by Arthur Hill

The Lakers will give second-round draft pick Anthony Brown more playing time this week, according to Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. The 34th overall selection has appeared in 13 games, averaging 2.3 points, 1.7 rebounds and 15 minutes of action while shooting just 23.8% from the field. “He’s a very long, athletic guy that can guard three positions,” said coach Byron Scott. “But I want to see if he can knock down shots on a consistent basis.” Brown’s increased role will come at the expense of Nick Young, who has been told he will not play for the next week.

There’s more news out of Los Angeles:

Scott has sabotaged the Lakers’ future by playing veterans when he should be developing younger players like Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell, charges Mark Heisler of The Los Angeles Daily News. Heisler says he understands why the team is celebrating Kobe Bryant in his farewell season, but slams Scott for an “old-school” attitude that results in so much court time for Lou Williams, Roy Hibbert, Brandon Bass and Young. The columnist contends Scott has failed to build a young nucleus that might attract Kevin Durant in free agency and has doomed hopes for a quick turnaround next season.
Metta World Peace has only played in one of the Lakers’ last 17 games, but he still had a significant week, writes Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. The 36-year-old was kept on the roster past the deadline for guaranteed contracts, ensuring he will earn his entire $1,499,187 salary. After being out of the NBA for a year, World Peace signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Lakers in September, just before camp opened. “This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done — get a minimum contract,” he said. “It really was. I had to ‘re-prove’ myself again.”
This is the final NBA season for both Bryant and Sleep Train Arena, and Ken Berger of CBSSports.com writes that Bryant’s last game in Sacramento brought back lots of memories. “I looked up in the rafters and I saw the jerseys of players that I was rivals with — [Chris] Webber and [Vlade] Divac and Peja [Stojakovic],” Bryant said. “And I’m looking up there and I’m going, ‘It was just yesterday I was playing against them and their numbers are retired. What the hell am I still doing out here?’ So if I hadn’t decided to retire before now, that would’ve made me retire immediately.”

Pacific Rumors: Lakers, Walton, Dukan

December 7th, 2015 at 9:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Power forward Julius Randle and point guard D’Angelo Russell were not happy with Lakers coach Byron Scott’s decision on Monday to remove them from the starting lineup, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Scott made the surprising announcement that Randle, the team’s lottery pick last year, and Russell, the No. 2 overall pick this season, would be replaced in the lineup by another rookie, power forward Larry Nance Jr., and veteran point guard Lou Williams. “You’re never going to be thrilled about it as a competitor,” Randle told the team’s traveling media. “But it’s out of your control. What I can control is go out there and play hard like we’ve been doing.” Russell felt he was developing better chemistry with his teammates, Medina continues. “I started to figure it out and this happened,” Russell said. “I don’t feel like this will get in the way of my growth.” Scott did not tell either player his thought process for the lineup changes but he could alter it again during the next five to 10 games, Medina adds.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

Nick Young admits that exasperation over his team’s 3-17 start led to his ejection against the Pistons on Sunday night, Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com writes. The Lakers’ backup shooting guard was tossed in the fourth quarter of a 111-91 loss when he shoved Detroit forward Anthony Tolliver in the neck after a hard foul. Young was not suspended by the league. “It’s tough,” he said to Holmes and other members of the media. “There’s a lot of frustration. It’s a struggle and it’s building up.”
Luke Walton credits his former Lakers coach, Phil Jackson, with showing him how to comport himself in his current job, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports. The interim Warriors coach discovered the value of staying grounded through Jackson. “Phil was the first coach I had — well, I shouldn’t say the first coach that I had, but the first one who made me recognize it as a bigger picture,” Walton told Berger. “He never got too upset; he never got too excited. He was just even-keel all the time. His beliefs as a teacher, that you’re at your most dangerous when you’re level-headed and can make decisions … I believe wholeheartedly in that.”
The Kings recalled rookie forward Duje Dukan from their D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, the team announced on its website. Dukan, an undrafted 24-year-old power forward, averaged 13 points and 3.8 rebounds in four games with the Bighorns. He has not made his NBA debut.

Pacific Notes: Green, Kobe, Scott, Malone

November 20th, 2015 at 2:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

There was no way of knowing Draymond Green would develop into a player making in excess of $16MM a year on his new five-year, $82MM deal, Warriors GM Bob Myers remarked recently, and Green admits he didn’t know how valuable he would become, either, observes Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com. Green was the 35th overall pick in 2012 and made the minimum salary last season.

“Yeah, I was thinking, like, maybe $7, $8MM,” Green said, according to Strauss. “Who saw this coming?”

The free agent market is never quite predictable, but the Warriors seem to have a handle on it even amid the rapid cost escalation for Green, as I examined earlier this week. See more from the Pacific Division:

Kobe Bryant said this summer that he could envision himself playing overseas after his NBA career, but that’s not in his plans for now, as he told Marc Stein of ESPN.com within the past week. The Lakers star also said this week that he doesn’t see himself playing beyond the season, barring a change.
The demanding nature of coach Byron Scott makes for a challenging adjustment, Nick Young posited as he talked about the struggles of offseason signee Lou Williams. Bill Oram of the Orange County Register has the details.
Michael Malone cited the trouble the Kings have faced after his firing in response to a question about Houston’s dismissal of Kevin McHale this week, notes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “I can only speak to my experience [in Sacramento],” Malone said. “It was loud and clear that I didn’t lose the locker room. Once I got fired, the organization lost the team in a weird way.”

Pacific Notes: Warriors, Young, White, Mitrovic

October 19th, 2015 at 10:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Warriors have largely the same roster they did when they won the title in June, but with a handful of players entering the final season of their contracts and Steve Kerr on a health-related leave of absence, this year’s team has a different feel, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Stephen Curry says it’s “weird” not having Kerr around and acknowledges the challenges of everyone coalescing once more, as Aldridge relays.

“We are, technically, the same team,” Curry said. “We have everybody minus David Lee back, and Jason Thompson. But we’re different in that regard. Because everybody’s in a different place in their careers. Maybe stuff’s going on off the court. You’ve got to kind of separate what we did last year from this year, even though it’s the same personalities in the locker room. Support each other, encourage each other, figure out how we can mesh all the different storylines together into one goal, which is doing what we did last year.”

See more from the Pacific Division:

Nick Young calls the trade rumors that surrounded him this summer “confusing” and “motivating,” but the Lakers didn’t find a taker, and Young and coach Byron Scott are entering this season preaching optimism about their continued partnership, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News details. “Me and Byron are good, but I’m using it as motivation,” Young said. “I’m just trying to do my part and stay alive. I’m trying to do everything he tells me to do. Anything I got to do to stay out there on the court.”
Suns camp cut Terrico White will play for Phoenix’s D-League affiliate, a source tells Adam Johnson of D-League Digest (Twitter link). White cleared waivers this weekend after the Suns released him Thursday. NBA teams can retain the D-League rights to as many as four players they waive, so White appears to be one of Phoenix’s four.
Kings draft-and-stash prospect Luka Mitrovic is expected to miss several months because of a left knee injury, Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi tweets. Mitrovic, the last pick of this year’s draft, signed an extension with Crvena Zvezda of Serbia this summer. Sacramento holds his NBA rights as a result of the cap-clearing trade with the Sixers this summer.

Lakers Notes: Bryant, World Peace, Young

September 29th, 2015 at 1:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

Phil Jackson raised the specter of Kobe Bryant playing for a team other than the Lakers in comments the Zen Master made last week, but Bryant made it clear Monday he has no intention to do that, telling Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports, “Dude, I bleed purple-and-gold.”

“A lot of players want to go to different teams or contend to win championships,” Bryant said. “I’m a Laker, man. I’m a Laker for better or worse.”

Bryant shed no more light on the matter of whether he’d play at all beyond this season, the last on his contract with the Lakers. While we wait to find out if this is the end for the 36-year-old star or if he’ll re-sign this summer, see more from Lakerland:

Metta World Peace regrets returning to play 12 days after surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee during the spring of 2013, his last as a Laker, saying that it affected his ability to perform for the Knicks the next season, as he tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. The 35-year-old who’s returned to the Lakers on a non-guaranteed deal feels as though he’s since recovered and is ready to embrace a mentorship role, even if he can’t quite duplicate the soft touch that Derek Fisher used in juxtaposition to Bryant’s caustic personality, as he explained to Medina.
Nick Young endured trade rumors early in the offseason, and the return of Bryant plus the free agent signing of Lou Williams figures to cut into his time. Still, after trade talk died off and GM Mitch Kupchak met with him to explain the Williams signing, Young arrived at camp Monday with an upbeat attitude, saying Williams “will make things better,” observes Janis Carr of the Orange County Register.
The Lakers hired Hall-of-Famer James Worthy to work with the team’s coaching staff, the team announced, without specifying a former title for the “Showtime” era great.

And-Ones: Miller, Haywood, Hammon

July 26th, 2015 at 10:32pm CST by Will Joseph

Mike Miller landing with the Thunder seems like an unlikely outcome, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman writes. Miller was reportedly traded from the Cavs to the Blazers and is expected to be released. Joining the Thunder would be an interesting move because Miller played under new Thunder coach Billy Donovan at Florida between 1998-2000, as Slater points out, and the two are very close friends, Slater adds. However, Miller, 35, who is coming off his worst season, reportedly wanted out from Cleveland because he wants more playing time and that would be hard to find with the Thunder, Slater adds. The team also won’t have a spot on the roster for him, Slater notes.

The Sixers discussed trading for Brendan Haywood with the Cavs before the big man was reportedly dealt to the Blazers, reports SI.com’s Jake Fischer, who cites a source (on Twitter).
Spurs assistant Becky Hammon has gained traction as a potentially serious head-coaching candidate, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com writes after several conversations with league executives. More importantly, from Berger’s perspective, the culture around the league toward a female head coach has changed drastically. One executive from the Eastern Conference told Berger that Hammon “would be high on my list.” Another said, “Why not? She has the qualities necessary, and with an organization’s backing, she could do it. She’s obviously learned under the best.”
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak wanted to meet with Nick Young to tell Young not to consider the signing of Lou Williams a slap in the face, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports (on Twitter). The Kupchak and Young met recently and afterward Young, who has been the subject of trade rumors this summer, said he felt confident he would remain with the team.

Pacific Notes: Chandler, Young, Barnes

July 24th, 2015 at 12:51pm CST by Chuck Myron

Most teams chasing top-tier centers thought it better to go after the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe before circling back to Tyson Chandler as something of a fallback option, but the Suns found it wise to chase Chandler before pursuing Aldridge, as Rob Mahoney of SI.com examines. Chandler quickly committed to Phoenix, and he helped them become a finalist in the Aldridge sweepstakes.

“I think when you have a guy like that that you target, you go aggressively after him. And that’s what we decided to do with Tyson,” GM Ryan McDonough said to Mahoney. “It did help us that there were so many free agent big men on the market, especially high-level players — guys who have been All-Stars, All-NBA, and all that stuff. I think a few teams wanted to kind of talk to each of the guys and get a feel for them. Some of the players wanted to do visits with multiple teams, and be wined and dined a bit. Tyson really didn’t want any of that.”

There’s more from Phoenix amid our latest look around the Pacific Division:

The Suns seemingly made their three-player trade with the Pistons in an effort to clear cap room for Aldridge, but McDonough told Mahoney that the deal that sent out Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger is one the team would have done regardless, citing a desire for more roster balance and future flexibility.
Nick Young feels more confident that he’ll begin the coming season with the Lakers after a recent meeting with GM Mitch Kupchak, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. That jibes with a dispatch last week from Bill Oram of the Orange County Register, who heard that the Lakers had stopped looking for trade partners who’d take Young.
Harrison Barnes confirmed Thursday that he wants a long-term future with the Warriors, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group details. He and the team reportedly share a mutual interest in a rookie scale extension. “I mean, we just won a championship,” Barnes said. “Of course I’d love to keep this group together for many years to come, you know what I’m saying? So that’s obvious.”