Lakers’ Nick Young continues trash talking ESPN anchor Robert Flores

Charlotte, N.C. — What he hoped would turn out into a romantic February has suddenly turned into a tumultuous month.

Nick Young’s frustrations have gone beyond sitting out of the Lakers’ game on Tuesday against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena, his fourth consecutive contest because of a swollen left knee. Or Young’s 9.9 points per game average on 32.4 percent shooting through nine games in February. The Lakers’ eccentric forward also had a verbal back and forth with ESPN anchor Robert Flores after he made a joke at the expense of Young’s girlfriend, the Australian hip hop artist Iggy Azalea.

“We learned that, according to the Lakers’ Nick Young, a dolphin recently tried to kill him,” Flores said on ESPN. “So, Nick, while dolphins are trying to kill you, your girlfriend is trying to kill hip-hop. Let’s call it even, okay?”

Young responded to Flores via Twitter in what he described as “Kanye mode,” a playful reference to rapper Kanye West hardly shying away from giving his opinion. Young wrote, “I’m pretty sure we going to run into each other soon.” Young then added, “your [sic] job is to talk about sports, not what me and my chick got going on.” Young joked on Tuesday, “I might pour some water or Gatorade on him like we won the championship.”

Flores provided more punchlines.

“If you look at his numbers, there is a 70 percent chance that if he takes a shot at me, he’s going to miss,” Flores said on ESPN Radio’s Sedano & Stink show. “I’m just looking at the numbers. So, I’m good.”

Young chuckled at the joke at his expense before throwing more darts.

“What time he come on TV though?” Young asked rhetorically. “When nobody watches? He probably said it because he needed to get some ratings. It came on at like 12 in the morning.”

Young only added he heard about Flores’ comments because non-stop text messages and alerts on his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Still, Young sounded frustration over frequent attacks over Azalea, who also received verbal attacks from rapper Snoop Lion.

“It’s been a theme to talk about her,” Young said. “I get tired of it.”

Young also seems tired of the criticism surrounding himself. Young had recently chafed at ESPN for criticizing him interrupting Jeremy Lin’s postgame interview during last week’s win over the Celtics, a season-long routine that did not spark attention until Kobe Bryant signaled displeasure over the antics on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“It’s been a history with ESPN,” Young said. “I guess that’s how they get ratings, talking about me. I’m a star. I got to expect some stuff.”


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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com