According to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, Young’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, said, “Nick wants to be a Laker, but his focus right now is to get healthy, get back on the court and finish the rest of the season. That’s a conversation (general manager Mitch Kupchak) and I will have, but it’s too early at this point to talk about what he’s going to do to.”
Young suffered a bone bruise and a non-displaced fracture of the patella in his left knee on Feb. 5 against the Cleveland Cavaliers that forced him to miss six games. He returned to action on Feb. 23 against the Brooklyn Nets, scoring 10 points in 20 minutes during the 108-102 loss.
The 28-year-old shooting guard wants to stay in Lakerland, but the front office must first assess his value moving forward. He does have a player option worth approximately $1.2 million for the 2014-15 season, but the odds he exercises it seem slim.
After crediting the sharpshooting guard for having a “great year,” Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak added, “My guess is he’s going to opt out," per Medina.
Young has likely raised his free-agent stock in the eyes of opposing GMs by averaging 16.8 points and 2.7 rebounds per game for LA. It’s logical to believe he could get a far more lucrative deal on the open market when compared to his $1.2 million player option, so opting out is his best course of action from a financial perspective.
The question now is if the Lakers feel Young is worth competing in a bidding war. He’s certainly a one-dimensional NBA player, with scoring as his best attribute, but there are other reasons for LA to keep “Swaggy P.”
