Key Takeaways Nick Young had a colorful NBA career with meme-able moments and stellar highlights.
Young never received individual honors despite being a quality NBA player.
His controversial take disrespecting Curry, Jordan, and Bryant sparked debate in NBA media.
During his playing days, Nick Young was one of the more outlandish characters on the court. He played with a certain swagger that might have not been totally earned, but he became a favorite on social media, providing fans with blunders, gaffs, and some stellar highlights sprinkled in.
Since his last NBA appearance in 2018, Young has played in China, coached in the Big3 league, and made several media and podcast appearances. He has kept his on-court personal alive and well in his post-playing career and has joined the ranks of Gilbert Arenas, Paul Pierce , Kevin Garnett , and Kendrick Perkins, former players who often have outlandish takes.
Young, despite his meme-able moments, was a quality NBA player throughout his career, and won a championship in 2018 with the Golden State Warriors . He also played for the Washington Wizards , L.A. Clippers , Philadelphia 76ers , L.A. Lakers , and Denver Nuggets .
Nick Young – Career Statistics (2007-2018) Category Stat GP 720 GS 201 PPG 11.4 RPG 2.0 APG 1.0 FG% 41.8% 3PT% 37.6%
Despite being a decent player, Young never made an All-Star Game or was given any sort of individual honors throughout his career.
Nick Young Disrespects NBA Legends
Compares Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan
NBA media has seemingly always been enamored with legacy debates, where former players and media members rank players based on certain criteria to establish who the greatest of all time is. While these long, often pointless exercises do little to change fans’ minds, it’s widely agreed at this point that either Michael Jordan or LeBron James is the greatest player of all time. After that, things get murky.
One legacy argument that is universally agreed upon involves Young’s former teammate, Stephen Curry . Curry is widely considered the greatest shooter of all time, as he has made more three-pointers than anyone and boasts a career mark of 42.6 percent from deep. His shooting prowess, for most people, lands him comfortably in the top 15 best players of all time.
Young, apparently, disagrees, as he managed to somehow disrespect Curry, Jordan, and another one of his teammates, Kobe Bryant , with a 13-word post to X (formerly Twitter).
While Bryant has some of the most fiercely loyal fans of any NBA player, it’s hard to say that he’s better than Jordan. It’s also hard to say that Kyrie Irving is better than Curry.
Saying that Jordan is worse than Bryant is disrespectful to MJ, claiming that Irving is better than Curry is disrespectful to the greatest shooter ever, and comparing Bryant and Irving is disrespectful to the Black Mamba.
Irving is almost undoubtedly a Hall of Famer, but he is not on the same level as Curry, who has cemented himself as an all-time great. While Irving is the greatest ball-handler ever, he is not a two-time MVP and only has one title to his name.
While Young likely thought he was saying what people were scared to say, he ended up becoming the laughingstock of the league, at least for today, until one of his contemporaries manages to top it.