Lakers' Young: Relationship with Russell on mend
Nick Young has found the high road and the humor in his controversy-filled spring and romance-less summer.
Five months after Los Angeles Lakers teammate D’Angelo Russell posted a video of him talking about picking up girls — and two months after his public breakup with pop star girlfriend Iggy Azalea — Young said he and Russell will “be able to work it out.”
“We’re teammates,” Young told the Los Angeles Daily News on Sunday night. “It’s been so long, so it’s kind of old.”
Young had declined to discuss the issue over Russell with media, saying he didn’t want to get into his personal life.
“We’ve already been working it out,” Young said of Russell. “It is what it is. I can’t be mad forever.”
Young also laughed when asked by the Daily News about a recent Foot Locker commercial in which Russell throws a cell phone toward the ocean in reply to a request for advice from Ben Simmons, the Philadelphia 76ers‘ No. 1 draft pick.
“Real funny,” Young deadpanned, according to the Daily News.
“I need my commercial now,” Young said, laughing. “I’ll explain what happened to my life.”
In March, the then-rookie Russell offered a public apology a day after ESPN reported a rift that had developed between the point guard and his teammates after the video he took of Young made its way to social media.
“I feel as sick as possible,” Russell said in a pregame news conference. “Been asked 110 times, and my answer and feeling stay same.”
Russell also said he had personally apologized to Young for the incident.
The video, which was believed to have come to light via the Twitter account of a celebrity gossip site, showed Russell filming Young while asking questions about Young being with other women than Azalea, who he had been engaged to.
“I think it’s best that me and D’Angelo handle the situation we have in a private manner outside the media,” Young said then. “I think it’s something we really do need to sit down and talk about. That’s about it. What happened is what happened. We’ve got to work on it.”
Information from ESPN.com’s Baxter Holmes was used in this report.
