Unfortunately, it took a 60-point performance from Kobe Bryant in his final game as a pro for the Los Angeles Lakers to make basketball-related headlines towards the end of the season, but they were certainly talked about in other areas. One of them was the scandal that swept up the entire league in gossip-y whirlwinds, when Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell secretly recorded Nick Young speaking about his infidelities in a video clip that made its way to the internet. Russell has been adamant about the fact that he wasn’t the one who posted the video, but he’s shouldered the brunt of the backlash regardless. In the public’s eye, he broke guy code, bro code, team code, locker room code, and several other codes that likely didn’t exist until Russell’s video surfaced.
Months later, with the season over, LeBron James dominating basketball headlines again and the NBA Draft around the corner, Russell has appeared in a new Foot Locker commercial with the 2015-2016 Rookie of the Year, Karl Anthony-Towns, the Suns’ standout rookie guard Devin Booker, and presumed #1 overall pick in Thursday’s draft, Ben Simmons. Simmons asks a lounging Towns, Booker and Russell about any advice that they’d give him as he makes his transition from college to the pros, and after the T’Wolves and Suns standouts offer up some pointers, Russell decides to teach Simmons a valuable lesson by taking his cellphone and launching it into the ocean. “Trust me,” says Russell after he’s disposed of Simmons’ cellular device.
Talk about poking fun at yourself. Watch the hilarious clip above.
