Lakers teammates Nick Young and D’Angelo Russell finally address the video that leaked last week where Russell recorded Young admitting to cheating on his fiancé, rapper Iggy Azalea.
The two spoke separately at a pregame conference Wednesday night before playing against the Miami Heat at the Staples Center. Despite the video leaking last week, Russell reveals it was actually filmed months ago. Though he and Young play around alot, says Russell, he takes full responsibility for the prank, but denies leaking the video:
“We play around and we joke and we laugh and we say things that you don’t really repeat. That was just an incident of just playing too much goes wrong. I take the full blame for that, recording the video, but leaking the video wasn’t me.”
On gaining back the trust of his teammates:
“If I’ve lost anybody’s trust, I’m going to work my tail off to gain it back because that’s something you need for a winning team,” Russell said at the conference, “you need everybody to trust each other. You need the first guy to trust the 15th guy.”
“You can’t undo the damage that’s been done. All you can do is stay apologetic from your heart and show how much you care and how sorry you are to your teammates for putting them through something like this that really could tear a locker room apart.”
“It’s all on me. It’s my job to let guys know that I messed up and I’ve got to bounce back from it.”
Russell says he feels “sick” since the video leaked and has apologized to Young since the incident, but he doesn’t know if Young has accepted his apology. Young, however, says he has yet to talk to Russell, even tweeting (and later deleting) “what I accept?”
Watch the two speak address the prank BELOW:
Lakers’ Head Coach Byron Scott, who has already publicly spoken on Russell’s immaturity in the past, also spoke on the incident. He says he wishes the two players could’ve handled the incident privately before it leaked to the public:
Lakers fans haven’t been too forgiving of Russell as well. Fans reportedly booed Russell during the pregame introduction of the players before he played against the Miami Heat Wednesday night. Fans continued to boo Russell every time he took a shot during the game, shouting “snitch” and “traitor” throughout the game.
“I can’t really show my face anywhere without people hating me right now,” Russell said on the backlash from fans. “I don’t know. I try to handle it the right way and remember why I’m here, which is to play basketball.”
Fans have also lashed out at Russell via his Instagram page, posting snake and rat emojis under his photos:
Despite the booing, Russell scored 16 points in Wednesday night’s game, aiding in the Lakers’ win against Miami in a 102-100 victory.