Golden State Warrior and NBA champion Nick Young: Legalize cocaine
Nobody will ever confuse Golden State Warriors reserve Nick Young for being a role model.
He’s a ball hog who’s never seen a shot he wouldn’t take. He was infamously caught on video admitting to cheating on his girlfriend, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. He was once fined $10,000 by the NBA for making light of ex-teammate Gilbert Arenas’ legal issues.
And yet, all of those incidents pale in comparison to his latest foible.
TMZ Sports caught up with Young and asked for his thoughts about Canada becoming “the first country in the world” to completely legalize recreational marijuana (Canada is, in fact, the second country to do so after Uruguay.)
Warning: Some readers may find the language in the video offensive
“Man, I want people to pass cocaine,” Young responded to the interviewer’s question. Young then followed that up with perhaps the worst advice ever doled out since Hitler convinced Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor.
“Everybody needs to do cocaine!” Young exclaimed.
The Warriors have come under fire recently for their increasingly vocal political beliefs, but Young’s comments are on another level.
Ignoring all politics, the Warriors are a boringly and excessively talented team that is hurting the NBA’s competitiveness, but is otherwise harmless.
Young’s suggestion is anything but harmless. Especially considering that, despite the protests of NBA luminaries like Charles Barkley, many kids still look up to and idolize professional athletes.
Some have argued for the medicinal benefits of marijuana, particularly when it comes to pain relief. Virtually nobody has ever argued for any potential benefits of cocaine (yes, it can very rarely be used in operating rooms if other anesthesia methods are deemed too dangerous.) Young very much seems to coming out of left field with his suggestion.
If Young truly wants to live in a place with legalized cocaine, he does have a few options. Some countries, including Mexico, the Czech Republic and Colombia, allow people to legally carry recreational cocaine (typically less than a gram.) Unfortunately for Young, none of those countries field an NBA team.
It’ll be interesting to see if the NBA fines or otherwise punishes Young in any way.
Having a reigning NBA champion encourage cocaine use is a bad look, not matter how offbeat the player is. And Young is most certainly offbeat.
I’m a national treasure .. swaggy P
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) June 9, 2018
“Swaggy P” is a self-given nickname Young has for himself, a semi-portmanteau of “Prophet of Swagger.”
Unfortunately for “Swaggy P,” his latest take on recreational drug use is a miss, something he certainly knows about.
— UNO-The System (@_thatfunguy) June 9, 2018
Young, who signed a one-year $5.2 million deal with the Warriors last offseason, is slated to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He averaged 7.3 points per game coming off the bench for the Warriors last season.
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