OAKLAND–Nick Young couldn’t figure it out.
Why, after the Golden State Warriors had just won their second championship in three seasons, did the franchise’s heavy hitters want to have lunch with him?
It turns out, head coach Steve Kerr and two of his biggest play makers, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant, wanted to recruit him.
“I was pretty much surprised, they had just won a championship,” Young said. “I was out there having lunch with Steve Kerr, Draymond Green and KD, wondering what they need from me. They just won a championship. They were cool, they were very persuasive. I’m here now.”
Young said the Warriors weren’t just persuasive with their words, they backed it up with their actions.
“They took me out on the town a little bit,” Young said. “I like to go out a little bit. They just knew me.”
At Warriors’ Media Day on Friday, Young told a story about traveling to San Francisco from Los Angeles and checking out the sights that have make the town famous. The player Lakers’ fans affectionately referred to as “Swaggy P” said he ate at “some restaurant” with clam chowder (Boudin’s) and then went to the “crookedest place in the world” (Lombard Street).
“I went to the crookedest place in the world, Lombard Street, so I’ve been around a little bit,” Young said.
The always entertaining Young was asked who the best three-point shooter on the Warriors’ team is, and instead of saying himself, Steph Curry or Klay Thompson, he provided a unique answer.
“Steve Kerr, and then you could throw anybody in behind that,” Young said.
Though he wasn’t a member of the group that recruited Young, Warriors’ center JaVale McGee did offer a helping hand in Golden State’s sales pitch. McGee flourished with the Warriors last season after an up-and-down career, and he told Young he had the chance to do the same.
“JaVale just want to have another cinnamon challenge with me,” Young said. “Just from me watching, just seeing the growth in JaVale, I thoguht that was pretty cool seeing where he started from and where he finished. Just him telling me it’s totally different up here, it’s a family feel, you don’t have to worry about nothing but basketball.”