The Los Angeles Lakers seem to have a knack for finding amazing talents and nurturing them into superstars. They did that with Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. In exchange, the two players became superstars in their respective careers and did a lot for the franchise.
Back during the 2005 NBA Draft, it seemed like the Lakers had found another gem. It was the last season before the NBA stopped allowing players from high school straight away to jump into the NBA.
But it felt like the Lakers wouldn’t need to do that after drafting Andrew Bynum with the 10th overall pick. The Purple & Gold were in desperate need of a good center since they traded Shaquille O’Neal. Unfortunately, Bynum’s rookie year was anything but impressive.
Of course, he needed a little time settling in and he did. He played a crucial role in the Lakers’ back-to-back rings in the 2009 and 2010 NBA Finals. However, the fact that he was uninterested in playing basketball. This is evident from the fact that he was out of the NBA at the age of just 26.
Anyway, his former teammate Nick Young, popularly known as “Swaggy P,” recently sat down for an interview. In the interview, he talked about Bynum’s fashion sense and how it was obvious that Bynum wasn’t interested in playing basketball.
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“Andrew Bynum was cold though. He didn’t care. He wore like the same red shoes with everything, like these loafers. I don’t think he ever wanted to play at all. Because he was supposed to come back and then he went bowling or something like and tore his knee. He used to like drive in his Ferrari that he couldn’t fit in. He used to love Ferraris and racing. But he was outside the arena just doing donuts in the Ferrari in the snow. The GM was like, ‘What is wrong with him?’ Like in front of the bus just doing donuts with a torn ACL.”
Young finished the interview by saying Bynum was definitely the oddest dude he ever played with.
He remains one of the biggest what-if cases for the Lakers. If he never got injured a lot and had a real commitment to the game of basketball, maybe he could have had more success. After all, at one point in his career, he was considered the best center in the league behind Dwight Howard.
