The joyful man sat by his locker. Nick Young scrolled through his phone. He teased one particular reporter as he often does. He then listened to some music.
That pre-game routine then came to an abrupt halt. Lakers coach Luke Walton approached him and indicated he would like to speak with Young privately. Walton hardly berated Young, though. With Walton planning to start Young in place of an injured Luol Deng, the Lakers’ coach simply challenged Young to take advantage of that opportunity by playing defense.
Nearly two hours later, the Lakers secured a 124-115 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday at Citizens Business Bank Arena as Young provided 14 points on a 5-of-8 clip, four rebounds and two steals.