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| Nick Young, Iggy Azalea & D'Angelo Russell |
Let me start this post by saying that I've never been a fan of Swaggy P. His antics on and off the court make him look immature to say the least, and to me he's always been the below average player on the Lakers who's engaged to Iggy Azalea, and seems to care more about status and fame than winning.
Okay, now with that out of the way, let's get started.
By now you've probably heard the story. A video was released recently that showed Nick "Swaggy P" Young of the Lakers admit to cheating on his fiancee, Iggy Azalea, on at least one occasion. The video, which is incredibly damning to Young's reputation and potentially his engagement, was recorded by the Lakers 20 year old point guard, D'Angelo Russell, who also happens to be their top draft pick from last season.
How the video was released to the public is still unclear, although there have been a few reports that Russell sent the video to a few of his friends upon recording it, and one of his friends then sold it to a website. This has yet to be confirmed, and there are other stories that are being speculated as well. What we know for sure, is that Russell in the video can be heard egging on his teammate, almost as if to give him more information for his video. It also appeared that Young did not know he was being filmed by Russell, and would have probably not said what he did if he had known Russell was filming on his phone.
I've heard this argument a few times since this story came out: "Why is everyone making this such a huge story, it's being overblown. Russell made one little mistake, etc." Wrong. If this were some no-name players on Utah, Orlando, Milwaukee, etc. this would be a small story. But it's the Lakers, one of the most polarizing teams in all of sports, let alone the NBA, and it involves their potential franchise point guard, who's career could be ruined once this is all said and done. It's not about breaking the "bro code". It's the fact that none of his teammates trust him, and for free agents looking at the Lakers as a potential landing spot, having D'Angelo Russell as the future of their franchise could be a big turn off for top players. According to numerous sources around the Lakers, none of the Lakers players will eat with Russell, and the first game they played after the video was released, they lost by 48 points. When there's no trust in your point guard - the guy who is in charge of running the entire offence - you have no chance of winning at all.
This is also a pop culture story just as much as a sports story, given the involvement of international pop star Iggy Azalea. This could potentially ruin her engagement, given how Young essentially admitted to cheating on her on video. Given all of these variables, it is clear how this is bigger than your average teammate drama that usually goes on in locker rooms (I'm looking at you, Cavaliers).
The argument can be made that Russell is simply a young kid who made a really dumb mistake. That's fair, and if you want to believe that then I completely understand that. But there's something to be said about being a young kid and being even semi aware of your surroundings. I know that Russell probably feels awful, but at the end of the day he's gotta pay the consequences for his actions.
Look, I'm not trying to defend Nick Young. I would never defend someone who's 30 years old and still refers to themselves as "Swaggy P". He cheated on his fiancee and he's a dirtbag, there's no way around that. But at the end of the day, he said something that he trusted was in confidence, and it wasn't. D'Angelo Russell violated that trust he had, and it will be a damn long time before he gets that trust back from anyone in the NBA, not just Nick Young. Just how big of a story will this turn into? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
- Cameron
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