After a forgettable second season under head coach Byron Scott and with all signs pointing to his release or being traded before the 2016-17 NBA season, Nick Young’s time with the Los Angeles Lakers appeared to be over last summer.
In an incredible turn of events, Young was able to resurrect his career in Los Angeles with new head coach Luke Walton being very impressed with his effort and willingness to play at a high level on both ends of the floor in training camp. Young has gone from potential castoff to arguably the Lakers’ most consistent player.
Along with potentially securing his future with the Lakers, Young has changed his mentality as well as started his own clothing line, Most Hated. Young recently sat down for an interview with Will Welch of GQ Style to talk about the new clothing line and his bounce back season with the Lakers:
This season it seems to be going pretty well.
Yeah, the vibe is like, me having confidence in myself. Before, it was really getting to the point where I almost just gave up. But I kept going. Confidence is like—forget it, just do you, man. You’ve seen the bottom, you’ve seen everything. What’s the worst that can happen?
Young goes into detail about how he got the idea for the Most Hated clothing line. The Lakers guard says it all started while playing in the Drew League in the summer two years ago, via Welch:
Two summers ago, I was just playing around with my team at the Drew League. They called me “most hated.” I didn’t get calls, I was arguing with the refs, our team was always getting kicked out and all that. And then we started selling merch at the Drew League, and people were like “Ah!” It’s a big part of the league—you want fans to be at the Drew with our stuff on. So we decided to see what happens and do it, and it turned out alright.
All appears to be heading in the right direction for Young after what seemed to be the end of his basketball career. Although the Lakers continue to struggle in the first season under Walton, Young has been one of the few bright spots and will continue to be as he puts together arguably the best year of his NBA career thus far.