The joyful man sat by his locker as he scrolled through his phone and bantered with a reporter.
That pregame routine stopped abruptly. Lakers coach Luke Walton indicated he would like to speak with Nick 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 in Ontario as Young provided 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting with four rebounds and two steals.