A missed Olympic debut put the spotlight on Jayson Tatum. And Nick Young stole it. The retired NBA player went on an online rant about Tatum’s situation and it went viral. Ironically, it’s about getting sidelined. Swaggy P knows that feeling well. Before Steve Kerr kept the reigning NBA champ on the bench during the Team USA opening game, Young had a similar experience under former Lakers coach, Byron Scott. So Young’s tirade didn’t come out of thin air.

After Team USA’s opening game on Sunday, Nick Young went on a tirade on Instagram in Tatum’s defense. “In the States Jason Tatum a star but out the country you’ll a corner nig**a … it’s happened to the best of us baby,” he captioned with heavy sprinkling of laughing emojis. But he’s not really amused.

Way back in 2015, before Young won his only NBA title, he was struggling to make a mark as a Laker. In a game against the Rockets, Young only played eight minutes at the start and none after halftime. That would be his shortest outing since joining the team because Scott benched him. Nothing explicitly strategic. He just didn’t feel Swaggy’s head was in the game.

“It looked to me, to be honest with you, that he didn’t want to be there. That’s how I looked at him,” Scott said about his decision. The Lakers ended up losing 99-87 with no contribution from Young. In the few minutes he played, he shot 0-for-2, had three rebounds, and had two turnovers. The Lakers were down by eight minutes while he was still on the floor. At one point he was sluggish and standing aimlessly while his teammates played defense.

Scott said they had a chat in halftime and Young expressed he couldn’t figure out a play. “I just felt like, with his body language, that he didn’t want to play tonight. So, I chose not to play him,” the coach said then.

It was a single game episode but redemption would come two years later, when he’s under the Warriors. Steve Kerr got the guard off the bench in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Rockets. Initially, everyone questioned Kerr’s decision. Then Young scored 9 points on 3-for-5 shooting from the arc and helped the Dubs secure a win right off the bench. Kerr later said that it was vital to play Swaggy for his defensive abilities.

Young went on to win the 2018 title with the Warriors. Now Young went on a rant about Tatum. But we want to know what he thinks about Kerr having a passive moment like he did in 2015.

Nick Young empathizes with Jayson Tatum

Kerr played Kevin Durant at the cost of Tatum at the opening game against Serbia. It served Team USA a 110-84 victory over Nikola Jokic. But people also questioned why Tatum didn’t get minutes. Kerr admitted it was difficult to divide 40 minutes among a stacked roster. Understandable except to his former player.

“Everybody’s gonna get a taste of the corner. It don’t matter if you a world champion. N**a, everything. First Team All-NBA, Finals, all that. You gon’ get a taste of that corner, n*a. Steve Kerr said, ‘You gon’ taste what a corner n**a is, boy,” Young ranted before telling Tatum, “I feel for you.”

He told Tatum to take comfort that they all go through it at some point in their careers. But both Young and Kerr hyped his professionalism in the situation. Now Tatum gets a shot against South Sudan and fingers crossed, he makes every minute count.