"I'm going to grave with 'I ain't do that s**t'" - Former All-Star reacts to Nick Young's wish for a match in the boxing ring
Nick Young's long-standing beef with D'Angelo Russell is well-known.
The friction between the two NBA players stems from their time with the LA Lakers in 2016-17. Only a rookie then, Russell took a video of Young admitting to cheating on his then-fiancée, Iggy Azalea. The video was eventually leaked. While Young has held Russell responsible for the episode, Russell has maintained that he had nothing to do with the clip reaching the public domain.
Round two between the two could be here. Young appears to have fired the first shot this time. During a recent podcast with Chris Mannix, Young claimed that he would love to get into the boxing ring with Russell and beat him up. Russell, though, is having none of it. He was quick to fire back through his Twitter account:
"My name keep dude relevant, and I’m going to grave with 'I ain’t do that shit' #CarryOn"
My name keep dude relevant, and I’m going to grave with “I ain’t do that shit”
#CarryOn
Although Russell's tweet doesn't name Young specifically, it can be assumed that his message was directed towards his former teammate.
Young last played an NBA game in 2018-19, when he played four regular season games for the Denver Nuggets. Russell, meanwhile, has played the last few seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves and is a one-time All-Star.
Swaggy P really wants to step into the ring with D'Lo 🥊😅
(via @SIChrisMannix) https://t.co/1QUwAqD7ZO
JR Smith says Nick Young and three other players have been sidelined by the NBA
While Nick Young is taking shots at D'Angelo Russell, former NBA player J.R. Smith is standing up for Young.
Smith, a two-time NBA champion and a former Sixth Man of the Year winner, believes that he has been blackballed by the NBA. In an interview with ComplexSports, Smith said he and some of other contemporaries have been sidelined by the league despite having enough to offer:
"Yeah, a 100%. Anybody can sit here and tell you that that’s a fact. You got those 30 teams, or the top three people on each 30 teams and exclude them. Give me the four through 15th men, just the four through 15. Name one of them that’s better than me, but I'm sitting here like, bro, like, I've worked out with these dudes."
Smith listed some of the players, including Young, who have also similarly been ignored by the league:
"And I feel like it's a whole genre that that happened to. The Joe Johnsons who obviously still got game, still can play. ... Jamal Crawford, still got game, still can play. Nick Young, still got game, still can play. Isaiah Thomas, still got game, still can play."
"Give me the 4 through 15th men on each team. Name one of them that's better than me."
J.R. Smith thinks he, Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Nick Young, and Isaiah Thomas were blackballed from the NBA.
(Via @ComplexSports) https://t.co/cUINiTKfhC