Despite not having seen the floor for the Los Angeles Lakers since March 8, Nick Young has been all over the news recently due to the now well known video leak involving himself and rookie D’Angelo Russell.
Both players have spoken about it publicly and it now seems as if the worst has come and gone, though there is reportedly still some tension which shouldn’t be surprising.
The awkwardness between Russell and Young is likely to continue and it seems difficult to imagine the two being able to co-exist as teammates in the future. Russell is obviously the higher priority of the two and according to Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times, the Lakers will likely look to move Young this off-season:
The Lakers tried to trade Young, 30, each of the last two seasons as his production dropped. There were no takers. They will likely try to find a home for him again this off-season, which won’t be easy with a player who didn’t even get off the bench in eight games last month.
In all likelihood the Lakers would have probably looked to move Young this off-season regardless of this latest drama. As Bresnahan noted, the Lakers unsuccessfully tried to trade Young previously and with his production dropping again this year, it makes sense that the Lakers would look to trade him again.
The issue with that seems to be that no one is willing to take on the remaining $11 million on Young’s contract which has one more guaranteed year and a player option after the 2017 season.
The Lakers will surely explore all options, but if they are unable to get rid of Young in a trade, the team could potentially waive Young via the stretch provision. However it happens, it seems highly unlikely that Young will be in purple and gold next year.