It was only 8 years ago that Nick Young made headlines after a video of him admitting to cheating on his then fiancé Iggy Azalea went viral on the internet. But who caught it on tape? Well, it was none other than his then-teammate D’Angelo Russell who secretly filmed Swaggy P, amid their private conversation. As expected, there were severe consequences, as the rapper broke up with Young soon after, and he and D’Lo got traded out from LA. Years later, Young has finally revealed his side of the story.

In a conversation with NBA legend Dwight Howard, Nick revealed that he was oblivious to D’Lo’s actions. “It was a tough one. I’ve seen it the way everybody else seen it,” the ex-Laker said. Then, he told what was on his mind when Russell inquired about his personal life, “He was just asking me questions you know about my relationship and all kinds of stuff, and I was you know answering them as a vet. I was a vet, he was my rookie. I thought he was just picking my brain or some s–t.”

Yes, Nick Young had been in the league for eight years when D’Lo was drafted by the Lakers. So, he took that private conversation like a mentor-mentee moment. However, he would soon realize, “The next thing you know, a couple weeks later, I see little clips on ESPN like everybody!”

Well, Nick Young did admit that he used to “haze” D’Lo as it was common practice to make a rookie’s life tough by giving them extra tasks and pranking them. But when the panel of Above The Rim with DH 12 asked Nick if leaking the video was D’Lo’s way of getting back, he immediately remarked, “Oh no, you don’t payback like that… That’s not payback. You hate me.” 

Moreover, Russell has made it clear that the video was meant to be private, “We joked around, played around all the time, said crazy things, and this just got in the wrong hands. It wasn’t a prank. It wasn’t something for everyone else to see. It was for my eyes, his eyes only. That was it.” So, when the video reached the public eye, Russell faced major consequences too.

D’Angelo Russell, who felt “sick”, apologized to Nick Young after getting isolated

Sure enough, Russell faced a lot of heat from the community and even his teammates after Young’s private conversation went public. While he claimed he had no idea how the video got leaked, none of it would’ve happened if he had not secretly recorded the footage. After that incident, his teammates began isolating him as they had lost trust in D’Lo, and Nick said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” while admitting that they even avoided passing him the ball during games.

Amid the outrage and harsh treatment from his teammates, D’Angelo Russell remarked, “I feel as sick as possible… I can’t really show my face anywhere without people hating me right now.” Moreover, he claimed he reached out to Nick Young to apologise to him, but was not sure of the response. “I don’t know if they were accepted. I wouldn’t blame him [if he didn’t].” And when asked during Dwight’s podcast if the two had buried the hatchet after all these years, Swaggy P said, “Not really.” 

With a rather controversial history with D’Lo, Nick Young continues to take digs at his former teammate, as he even unhesitantly blamed him for the Lakers’ early exit from the playoffs this year, “They depended on D’Lo, and that’s just – you’re asking to lose… What do you expect? They put their faith in the snitch, and the snitch let you down.”

Thoughts?

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.