Former Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors guard Nick Young has had the privilege of sharing the locker room with some of the greatest players in the history of the NBA. So when he was asked to pick a starting lineup made up of his former teammates on the Sloane Knows podcast, there were bound to be some major snubs.
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However, one of the less contentious decisions was picking between Stephen Curry and Gilbert Arenas to decide the starting point guard of the team. The Warriors icon was the obvious choice and was initially Young’s pick for his starting lineup.
However, he soon backtracked and picked Gilbert Arenas instead, leaving host Sloane Weinstein shocked. But Young had a pretty good reason for picking the three-time All-Star over one of the league’s greatest PGs ever,
“I would take Steph out just because I don’t want Gil to be mad at me. I’m gonna put Gil in, but Steph knows that he’s the better of the two.”
It is a well-known fact that Young and Arenas are close friends. He had a wild time with Agent Zero during his early Washington Wizards days. The 38-year-old still maintains a close connection with Arenas. Therefore, he had to pick him over Steph just because of their friendship.
Arenas was no slouch, however. The three-time All-Star averaged 20.7 points, 5.3 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in his 11-year NBA career. But Curry’s resume and legacy as a player dwarfs the former Washington Wizards guard’s achievements.
Young acknowledged the disparity but still picked Arenas because the latter also mentored him in his first three seasons in the league. In fact, the former Wizards veteran even pushed Swaggy P to compete against the likes of Dwyane Wade.
When Gilbert Arenas pushed Nick Young to attack Dwyane Wade
During his time with the Lakers, Nick Young developed a reputation for being a fearless shooter, regardless of whether he was landing or bricking his shot attempts. The guard developed this trait under Gilbert Arenas’ tutelage, who pushed him to attack as often as possible.
The former three-time All-Star even cited an example where he persuaded Young to play fearlessly against Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat. He recalled during an episode of the Gil’s Arenas podcast,
“We playing [against] Miami. I had to tell [Young], ‘We got D-Wade. We need you to shoot the ball. Every time I call your number, you shoot it on him.’ We gotta guard him on defense. We gotta get him tired some way. If D-Wade take 20 shots, you take 20 shots. I need to you equal this motherf***er.”
Arenas’ gameplan worked as Young scored 22 points on 23 shot attempts and helped the Wizards beat the Heat by 10 points. While he was instrumental in building the guard’s confidence, the veteran admitted he wasn’t a good influence in general. Regardless, the duo formed an unbreakable bond in the three years they spent together in Washington and remain close to this day.
