Nick Young’s day as a Laker may be numbered.
The Lakers will wrap up what has been an abysmal year on Wednesday night in their season-finale at Staples Center against the Sacramento Kings. Los Angeles hoped that this season would be somewhat of a promising one, but things went rotten quickly for Byron Scott and company, as the Lakers are looking at a possible 61-loss season if they drop tomorrows finale.
Let’s give the basic rundown shall we? Rookie Julius Randle broke his leg on opening night, Kobe Bryant was shelved for the season yet again with an injury to his rotator cuff and Coach Scott clashed with many of Los Angeles’ veteran players.
Nick Young, who inked a four-year, $21.5 million deal with the Lakers last summer, was one of those vets that Scott didn’t see eye-to-eye with.
Scott wasn’t thrilled with Young’s work-ethic, and Young wasn’t stoked with the amount of time he was seeing on the floor. Young was also scolded for showing up late to games.
So with the emergence of young point guard Jordan Clarkson, a potential top-five pick in this year’s NBA Draft, and a roster filled to the brim with fringe players that are all slated to become free agents this summer, the Lakers are looking to make some major tweaks, and apparently trading Nick Young could be one of them.
According to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles will shop around the flamboyant swingman this summer, as Young saw major regression in his game after a solid season under former Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni just a year ago.Young’s season was somewhat hindered by injuries, but when he was on the floor his productivity wasn’t great.
Young averaged 13.4 points per game on 36% shooting from the field and 37% from three in only 42 games played. When asked why he struggled so mightily this season, Young offered up this explanation during his exit interview:
Swaggy P discussing his shooting struggles this season: “I blame it on the rim. The rim was tripping this year.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) April 14, 2015
As the season winds down for the league’s lottery teams, rumors about various players shifting scenes will start to swirl. This is something to definitely keep an eye on, but it’ll be interesting if something comes to fruition for Mitch Kupchak and Jimmy Buss.
Young is one of only several Lakers under contract for next season, and aside from Clarkson, Julius Randle and maybe Tarik Black, the only one that would be worth trading for. His contract isn’t too pricey, and I’d bet my bottom dollar that he’ll have a better season than he had this year, maybe something in between his first year with the Lakers and this one.
That’s the concerning and yet fun part about Nick Young, you never know what you are going to get.
