NBA
Nick Young believes he was snubbed from the 75 greatest Lakers list
James is a Basketball Insiders contributor. He earned his bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. James enjoys watching sports and helping gamblers win money.
All posts by James FoglioUpdated15 Nov 2022
Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young believes he is one of the best players in franchise history, and the 37-year-old feels he was snubbed from the L.A. Times‘ 75 greatest Lakers list.
Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Shaquille O’Neal topped the list. According to the available data, the sportswriters only ranked players who appeared in at least 100 games with the franchise.
According to a few NBA betting sites, the Lakers have the 19th-best odds to win the championship in 2023. Check out which sportsbooks are showing higher odds for the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz.
For those wondering, there was a time when L.A. had a better record with Nick Young than with LeBron James…
The hate is real why y’all hate me but love me.. https://t.co/Oe5d8gRHiG
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) November 15, 2022
On Monday, L.A. Times Sports tweeted: “Kobe? Magic? Kareem? Shaq? LeBron? Who tops the list of the 75 all-time greatest Lakers?”
In response, Nick Young tweeted this message on Tuesday morning: “The hate is real why y’all hate me but love me…” Of course, the L.A. Times staff ranked Kobe Bryant No. 2 overall.
For that reason, some NBA fans feel that decision alone invalidates the entire list. Bryant won five championships, two Finals MVPs, and received 15 All-NBA selections with L.A.
Nick Young believes he was snubbed from L.A. Times’ 75 greatest Lakers players list
Through four seasons with the Lakers, Young averaged 13.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game in 220 appearances. He also shot 40.5% from the field and 37.7% from beyond the arc.
On December 17, 2016, in the Lakers’ 119-108 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the guard made eight 3-pointers and scored a season-high 32 points.
Additionally, Nick Young ranks 60th on the franchise’s all-time turnovers list (205). Kobe is first overall (4,010), Magic Johnson is second (3,506), and Abdul-Jabbar is third (2,527).
The 2013-2014 Lakers with a team that included
Steve Blake
Nick Young
Wesley Johnson
Xavier HenryStarted the first 9 games with a record of 4-5
The 2022 Lakers with LeBron, AD & Russ have started the first 9 games with a record of 2-7 pic.twitter.com/eeRieAIjPR
— GoldenKnight (@GoldenKnightGFX) November 6, 2022
For 2-point field goals, Nick Young ranks 57th in franchise history (494). More importantly, the guard ranks 10th all time in Lakers history for successful 3-pointers (465) and 30th in points (2,890).
It depends on which metric one decides to use.
In the Lakers’ 119-104 win over the Utah Jazz on April 14, 2014, Nick Young scored 41 points in 35 minutes of action. He finished 14-of-23 (60.9%) shooting from the floor and 6-of-11 (54.5%) from downtown.
While not the best performance of his NBA career, it was his greatest offensive outing with L.A. On January 11, 2011, in the Washington Wizards’ 136-133 win over the Sacramento Kings, the guard scored a career-high 43 points as a Wizard.
In the 2016-17 season with the Lakers, Nick Young ranked 19th in the league for 3-pointers (170).
Based on the information above, maybe the guard should feel upset.
