Los Angeles Lakers guards D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young addressed the media on Wednesday evening, a day after ESPN reported teammates were isolating their No. 2 NBA Draft pick after a leaked video surfaced. In the video, which Russell recorded but vows he did not leak, the 20-year-old rookie is asking Young, engaged to Iggy Azalea, about his infidelities.
Transcripts of both Young’s statement and Russell’s session with the media can also be read below.
Nick Young’s statement:
I don’t want to get into my personal life right now. I think it’s best me and D’Angelo handle the situation we have in a private matter, outside of the media. I think it’s something we do need to sit down and talk about and that’s about it. What happened is what happened. We’ve got to work on it.
D’Angelo, how do you feel about what happened?
I feel as sick as possible. I’ve been asked that question 110 times and my answer, my feelings, stay the same. I wish I could make things better right away, but I can’t.
Do you feel like you put Nick Young’s personal life/marriage in jeopardy?
Honestly I do. I’ve always been known as the guy that plays around a lot and he has been too and to be around somebody with the same, similar characteristics is different and he’s one of the guys that I’ve always talked to about anything and I cherished our friendship and for me to, I don’t know, have an incident like this come up and put it in jeopardy was not what I intended to do.
Do you have any idea how it got out?
Honestly, no.
Was it a prank?
No, it wasn’t my intention. We joked around, played around all the time, say crazy things and this just got in the wrong hands. It wasn’t a prank and it wasn’t something for everyone else to see. It was for my eyes, his eyes only and that was it.
Have you and Nick talked things out?
I’ve reached out to him, talked a little bit. But, I let him know my apologies. I don’t know if they were accepted. I wouldn’t blame him [if he didn’t].
Has the team isolated you since the incident?
No, I wouldn’t necessarily say that. There’s been a bad vibe. We’re human, so everybody has their two cents to say, and we’ve just go to clear the space, clear the air, I guess.
What would make you even have that type of verbiage with him?
There’s really no explanation for that topic other than the discussion. But, like I said, we play around and we joke and we laugh and we say things that you don’t really repeat and that was just an incident of just playing too much, goes wrong and I take the full blame for that, recording the video. But leaking the video wasn’t me.
Did you email the video or send it somebody?
No sir.
Does someone have access to your phone?
That’s the two and two that I’m trying to put together, me and my team. I have no clue how that got out and if I did I would definitely tell you guys, but I have no clue.
With the history between you and Nick (Young) there’s always been a good vibe. Is there a foundation there to heal the emotional wounds?
He was considered somebody that I would talk to, and I don’t know, you can always get a laugh…Nick’s going to make you laugh and you guys see it first hand. I would not consider this a prank, or anything I wanted anybody else to see, so like I said I’m sick and only time can really make this go away.
Do you think your phone was hacked?
I’m not going to say I was hacked. I’m not going to say I leaked it. I don’t have a clue how that got out there. If I knew the answer to that, I would let you guys know, but I know I did not put that out there.
How much does it hurt the trust with the team?
I know if I’ve lost anybody’s trust I’m going to work my tail off to gain it back because that’s something you need for a winning team. You need everybody to trust each other. You need the first guy to trust the 15th guy and that’s been my intentions.
What have you heard from other players, outside of this team?
I’ve talked to a few players separately just to get their input on how to go about it. At this point the damage has been done. The best thing you can do is own up to it. That’s what I did, I owned up to it in full effect and am just taking what comes with it.