Late last night, a report surfaced out of Los Angeles detailing a recent rift between Lakers teammates and the second overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, D’Angelo Russell. The rookie recorded a video of him talking to teammate Nick Young about his infidelities against his fiancée, rapper Iggy Azalea. The video, apparently originally intended to be posted to his personal snapchat, was somehow leaked and an internet gossip blog got their hands on it and shared it with the world.
As the world found out about this recording, so did his Lakers teammates and Russell has paid the price in quite possibly the most childish way possible. His teammates ostracized him, exiled him to a life of seclusion and it also might have affected the Lakers recent historic 48 point loss to the Utah Jazz earlier this week.
Now as the dust settles, everyone wants answers. Who’s to blame for the leaked video? Why did D’Angelo record Swaggy P? Who’s really the bad guy in this situation? Also, what’s going on with Iggy Azalea?
Russell recently spoke to the media and opened up about his transgressions and expressed his deepest apologies and also states that he has no clue how the video was released.
Following from Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo! Sports.
Russell used his phone to make the video in December, but it wasn’t until last week that a celebrity website obtained the video and made it public.
“I am sick,” Russell told The Vertical by phone on his drive to the Staples Center on Wednesday. “I am sorry about recording the video. I can’t repeat myself enough on that: I am sorry I recorded that video. I feel horrible. I wish this never happened.”
When asked about how the video left his possession and became public months after it was recorded, Russell told The Vertical: “Honestly, I have no idea. Me and Nick, that’s our friendship: We play around a lot. Anyone who knows him and knows me, they know that about us. But I apologize for recording that video. I never intentionally wanted to hurt anyone. I never wanted what was said in there to get out. It was my fault that it did, but that was never intentional.
“The thing is, we record ourselves doing dumb stuff all the time,” Russell told The Vertical. “On the road or home, wherever. We go back and watch what we did and said and laugh at ourselves. I guess I just never thought that these pranks we pull on ourselves could have bigger consequences. That was a big lesson I learned.
“I’ve said to myself over and over: What could anyone possibly gain by intentionally doing something that could hurt someone else’s relationship? I never wanted to hurt anyone. I’m sorry for it.”
Russell told the Vertical that he had spoken to Young and apologized to him – but wouldn’t say whether he believed his apology had been accepted. “He heard me out,” Russell told The Vertical. “I cherish our friendship on and off the court. … I never meant to hurt anyone.”
Russell went on to talk to Woj about acknowledging the fact that his reputation going forward may be tarnished after his mishap.
“Listen, man, I know that it will take some time to regain trust and confidence,” Russell told The Vertical. “I hope they know I would never intentionally hurt someone – and know how horrible I feel.”
“I have the best job in the world, playing for this franchise, in a city that I love,” Russell told The Vertical. “You have to be willing to take the good with the bad, and that’s part of this job. … But I feel even stronger today than I did then. I love this city and love this franchise. … I take nothing for granted.
“I know this is going to be tough. I am a good person. I cherish the relationships I have and I would never intentionally hurt someone. I will work hard to earn back the trust of my teammates and those who were impacted by this.
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
He also opened up when talking to the media about this situation.
D'Angelo Russell speaks to the media about his Nick Young leaked video situation. #Lakershttps://t.co/Q70bXVcJAa
— rob (@R0BaTO) March 31, 2016
