Sources: Lakers teammates 'isolating' D'Angelo Russell after video surfaces

[jimbojones8]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15095276/dangelo-russell-center-los-angeles-lakers-rift-video-took-nick-young-made-public

lol, free agents are going to love this kid

[Fico92]

Heh, wonder who he learned to expose other teammates cheating habits from...

[islanders11040]

The Los Angeles Lakers, sputtering to the end of Kobe Bryant's farewell season with the worst record in franchise history, face a fresh crisis involving prized rookie point guard D'Angelo Russell, according to team sources.

Sources told ESPN.com that trust in Russell from some teammates is eroding after a video surfaced in the past week that shows the 20-year-old former Ohio State standout and No. 2 overall pick from the 2015 draft recording a private conversation between Russell and teammate Nick Young in which Young does not appear to realize he's being taped.

The video, which is believed to have come to light last week via the Twitter account of a celebrity gossip site, shows Russell filming Young while asking leading questions about Young being with other women. Young got engaged to Australian rapper Iggy Azalea last summer.

While it's unclear how the video became public, sources say that the resulting tension in the Lakers' locker room in recent days is among that factors that contributed to L.A.'s limp showing Monday night in Salt Lake City, when they absorbed a 48-point pounding from the Utah Jazz, which matched the worst Lakers loss in franchise history.


D'Angelo Russell's teammates are "isolating him" after video he secretly took of a conversation with Nick Young was made public. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images
Various Lakers officials are aware of the issue and are dismayed with Russell, sources say, but to this point have chosen not to intervene in how Russell's actions have been received and handled by his teammates.

"Right now," one source said, "they're handling it by isolating him."

Austin Brown, Russell's agent from Creative Artists Agency, declined comment when reached Tuesday.

Said one team insider: "This was a prank gone wrong and a mistake by [Russell] and he has to be held accountable, but I would hope he isn't overly criticized for it."

The emergence of the video, sources, said, has been the talk of the locker room for the past several days and has led to a tangible strain between Russell and some teammates.

At a recent breakfast meeting, one source said, no Laker would sit with Russell at his table. The source added that, in another instance, Russell came into the locker room and sat next to guard Lou Williams, who got up and walked away.

"It's bad," one team source told ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne. "It's about as bad as it can get. There were trust issues already. Now there's no trust."

In the video, Russell asks Young at one point, "You was 30 and she was 19?" referencing Young's age and the age of another woman that Young said that he met in a nightclub.

"What about Amber Rose?" Russell later says, mentioning another celebrity who has been linked to many athletes.

"No, she knows my girl," Young is recording as saying.

Later in the conversation, while apparently still recording, Russell is heard telling Young, "I'm glad you told my video all that."

"Huh?" Young says, turning his face toward Russell before the video cuts off.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15095276/dangelo-russell-center-los-angeles-lakers-rift-video-took-nick-young-made-public

[Domejandro]

This is a situation that I don't see ending smoothly, it will be interesting to see if Los Angeles dangles him out.

[joedumars1]

You could tell Swaggy P was a playa already, duh

[bondom34]

Lou Will, Kobe, and Nick Young isolating? How strange.

[BigLurch92]

This is really weird. Did he post the video somewhere?

[wablty]

This is really weird. Did he post the video somewhere?

Does it matter? That he made it at all is a problem and speaks poorly of him.

[BigLurch92]

This is really weird. Did he post the video somewhere?

Does it matter? That he made it at all is a problem and speaks poorly of him.

just wanted to know if his intentions are for others to see it.

[King Ken]

D'Tective shouldn't have snitched.

[King Bugs]

Nick Young is cheating on his fiancee, but D'Angelo is the bad guy.

This nonsense is totally backwards.

[YourBuddy]

Yea, recording and baiting your teammate into talking about affairs is low. Can't imagine who would want to be in the locker room with this guy.

[Slava]

Cut Nick Young, nothing good comes out of him.

[MotownMadness]

Not good for Russel but he deserves it for doing some crap like that.

[NyKnicks1714]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r47fI-eK3CM[/youtube]

[Domejandro]

Lou Will, Kobe, and Nick Young isolating? How strange.

I was going to post something along these lines, but I am border-line irritated with D'Angelo Russell, haha; I couldn't phrase it correctly.

As a side-note, perhaps I am in the wrong and am caught up in my own moral code, but I find this astonishingly messed-up, you never put your teammates in a compromising position like this; snitching someone out like this is unacceptable, I would shun him too.

I am unreasonably salty about the situation, but seriously, WTF? Nick Young is not in the right given what he did, but I cannot help but feel a small pang of sympathy given that this will completely fragment his relationship. The truth always comes out, but this was not the proper circumstance by any means.

[Shock Defeat]

Don't blame them. Secretly recording your teammates is a ***** move. This dude would seriously get his ass beat (multiple times) if this was the streets.

[wablty]

Nick Young is cheating on his fiance, but D'Angelo is the bad guy.

This nonsense is totally backwards.

In this case? Yes. "But that guy was cheating on his girl" is a pretty awful excuse for intentionally recording a coworker's dirty laundry clearly confessed in confidence for the purpose of having something to hang over the guy's head.

Being a snitch is far worse, especially in their circles.

[-Sammy-]

"Welcome to my world, Nick."

- D. Sterling

[Bosnian Diehard]

Really dick move by Russell but Young is still a dick too for cheating on his fiance.