Nick Young still believes one of the cleanest moments of his rookie year never got its due.
On a recent appearance on the Club Shay Shay podcast, the former Washington Wizards guard said the NBA buried footage of a dunk he threw down on LeBron James during the 2007-08 season. Young’s point was blunt: he thinks the league protected its biggest star and treated the play like it was better off out of sight.
“I dunked on LeBron my rookie year, and they did the tape too. That’s when they was hiding the tapes.
He tried to do the same thing, but I was younger then. So I was playing defense on him.
He looked me up like, ‘What’s this rookie doing on me?’ Shot the three, it was a long rebound, got it.
Coast to coast. Tried to do that chase-down.”
He went on to say he thought the play should have been ranked far higher than it was.
“I was only, I was what, top 10? I thought I was going to be number one because of LeBron.
It was number 10. I should’ve got number one.
It was a random night. It was like a Wednesday.
It’s LeBron getting dunked on, but it was around when they was hiding LeBron tapes.”
Young also linked his story to another well-known LeBron dunk controversy.
“He got dunked on by Jordan Crawford, and they hid the tape, and I was the second one, so it was like, he can’t keep getting the bears. It’s the face. It’s our future, so.”
That reference pointed to the 2009 incident at the LeBron James Skills Academy, when Jordan Crawford, then a college player, reportedly dunked on LeBron during a pickup game. The situation drew heavy attention because Nike representatives took recordings of the play from people who had filmed it. A clip later made its way online and kept the episode in the spotlight.
Young, though, did not offer proof that the NBA suppressed his dunk. His own comments suggest the highlight was shown publicly, even if he believes it should have landed at No. 1 instead of No. 10.
Still, his annoyance makes sense from his side. In 2007-08, LeBron was already the league’s headliner, fresh off leading the Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals. His chase-down block had become part of his legend, and a rookie like Young finishing over him would have been the kind of play that sticks.
Young went on to carve out a 12-year NBA career with teams including the Wizards, Lakers and Warriors, and he won a championship with Golden State in 2018. He also became known as much for his personality as for his scoring touch.
LeBron’s resume only kept growing from there. He has won four NBA championships, four NBA MVP awards and four Finals MVP awards, while piling up all-time records along the way.
Getting dunked on is hardly foreign territory for a player who spent so much of his career challenging shots at the rim. But for Nick Young, that rookie-year moment remains one he still thinks deserved a bigger stage.
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