HOUSTON — Charles Barkley says what Los Angeles Lakers rookie guard D’Angelo Russell did “cannot happen,” but that the NBA family must forgive him.
“The kid made a mistake, a serious, serious mistake and we as an NBA family are going to have to forgive him,” Barkley said here Friday as part of a Turner/CBS media event. “Listen man, we all in this thing together, the players, and we a family and we as a family going to have to forgive that kid. We as a family got to forgive him so he can go forward.
“Now Nick [Young] is a different animal but we as players, we got to rally around him because I would like to see the kid reach his full potential. But that being said that cannot happen.”
Russell became the center of a firestorm this leak when a video he took of Young discussing his escapades with various women became public. Russell was then isolated by his teammates, and has since apologized.
“Let me say this, I have very strict rules on talking about other people’s personal relationships, but there’s no way that can happen, period,” Barkley said. “I’m very strict on my rules. I don’t discuss other people’s personal business but I will make an exception. That cannot happen, period.”
Kevin Boyle, Russell’s coach at Montverde (FL) Academy, also weighed in this week on the Russell situation.
“He did a bad thing and he’s apologized for it,” Boyle told Mike Lupica. “He deserved to get hit, and needs to regain the trust of his teammates. But I’m telling you that he’s a good kid and not a bad guy.”
“This strikes me as something one teenager would do to another,” Boyle continued. “And, believe me when I tell you, I’m not looking to justify what he did. It was wrong. He knows it was wrong. This is still a kid who fought through some tough circumstances when he was growing up to get to where he is, and will fight through this, and actually benefit from it, because he’s going to be more careful going forward about what he thinks and what he does.”
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NCharles Barkley says what D’Angelo Russell did “cannot happen,” but that the NBA family must forgive him.
