D’Angelo Russell mocks Nick Young controversy in Foot Locker ad
By John Buhler
In a Foot Locker commercial starring Ben Simmons, D’Angelo Russell pokes fun at the embarrassing situation he got himself in as a rookie with Nick Young.
On Tuesday, Foot Locker released a hilarious commercial involving soon-to-be No. 1 overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in LSU Tigers small forward Ben Simmons. Simmons joins three notable second-year NBA players in a beach house: Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, Phoenix Suns shooting guard Devin Booker, and Los Angeles Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell.
Simmons asks the prominent members of the 2015 NBA Draft Class about what to expect as a rookie in the NBA. Towns tells Simmons how tough it is to play in the NBA. Booker echoes his former Kentucky Wildcats teammate’s sentiment. Russell grabs Simmons’ phone and chucks it out the open window.
Russell’s smart part in this commercial makes it very funny, as the Lakers point guard got into an embarrassing scandal late last season involving a phone and Lakers teammate shooting guard Nick Young.
Russell took a Snapchat of Young boasting about his bedroom escapades, all while he’s engaged to Australian pop star Iggy Azalea. The leaked Snapchat created immense friction between Russell and his Lakers teammates for essentially breaking “bro-code.”
While the situation ultimately lead to Young and Azalea ending their engagement on Sunday during Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, it’s good to see Russell be able to poke fun at his own stupidity as a rookie with the 2015-16 Lakers.
Simmons will have to turn around a losing basketball culture in Philadelphia as the presumed new face of the 76ers franchise. It’ll be difficult for the 20-year-old Australian native to do, but hopefully he’ll learn from Russell’s mistake and not incriminate his Philadelphia teammates with his cell phone on Snapchat.
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