Former "Basketball Wives" star Laura Govan knows how NBA locker rooms work -- she was with Gilbert Arenas for years -- and tells TMZ Sports D'Angelo Russell may NEVER be able to recover from the Nick Young video scandal.
"There's a lot of shade in the NBA," Govan says, "These n**gas are f*cked up. I know first hand."
Check out the clip ... Govan says there's a STRONG bond between teammates at the NBA level, and if you violate that trust, "it's hard to recover from that."
Sidenote -- Govan says she's back on speaking terms with Arenas .