Fans of Emmanuel Mudiay undoubtedly saw the choice words the Nuggets rookie had this week for the Los Angeles Lakers coaches who passed over him at the 2015 NBA draft.
The Lakers took another point guard, D’Angelo Russell, with the second overall pick, while Mudiay was taken seventh by the Nuggets.
“They passed up on me; that’s definitely a motivation,” Mudiay told Los Angeles News Group before the Nuggets outlasted the Lakers, 120-109 on Tuesday. “They took another point guard ahead of me. I’m a point guard. So I guess they saw something in [Russell] that they didn’t see in me.”
Lakers head coach Byron Scott shot back:
“I didn’t think he was a true point guard,” he said. “I didn’t think he was a guy who made great decisions when we saw him and had him here. I thought that was something he would have to learn to do to run that position.”
After thumping the Lakers, Mudiay followed up with a final twist of the knife.
“Thank you Byron Scott for saying I’m not a point guard,” he told Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post.
We all know that Mudiay is overflowing with confidence — look no further than those regular suicidal drives he takes to the bucket. But this is a whole new level. When you were 19, would you have dropped a public burn on a 54-year-old guy who played 15 years in the league? No, of course you wouldn’t. You would have tucked your tail between your legs and gone to practice free throws in the driveway.
The cute back-and-forth was picked up by basketbloggers, who promptly forgot about the entire episode due to Jae Crowder’s full-court trick inbounds and this bizarre story involving Warriors owner Joe Lacob and the Larry O’Brien trophy.
I’m not yet ready to let it go. In fact, I’m doubling down and am begging Mudiay to turn this into a full-blown draft-snub revenge tour.
The pro athlete draft-snub revenge tour is nothing new, of course. It’s become a very popular storyline that athletes reference as motivation for an upcoming game. Nerlens Noel vowed to “make them pay,” Michael Crabtree “vows revenge,” Jared Sullinger holds “a chip on his shoulder,” and Tre McBride simply uses it “as motivation.”
If Mudiay did use it for motivation against the Lakers, then I’m not complaining. He opened the Lakers game a little rough, missing his first nine shots. But he ended the night with 12 points and 10 assists.
Keep an eye out for the Mudiay revenge tour. If it does materialize, these are the dates to watch:
- Saturday, Dec. 5: at Philadelphia 76ers (Jahlil Okafor)
- Tuesday, Dec. 8: Orlando Magic (Mario Hezonja)
- Friday, Dec. 11: Minnesota Timberwolves (Karl-Anthony Towns)
- Tuesday, Dec. 15: T-Wolves
- Tuesday, Dec. 22: Los Angeles Lakers (D’Angelo Russell)
- Wednesday, Jan. 6: T-Wolves
- Sunday, Feb. 7: New York Knicks (Kristaps Porzingis)
- Friday, Feb. 19: Sacramento Kings (Willie Cauley-Stein)
- Tuesday, Feb. 23: Kings
- Wednesday, Mar. 2: Lakers
- Tuesday, Mar. 8: Knicks
- Tuesday, Mar. 15: Magic
- Wednesday, Mar. 23: 76ers
- Friday, March 25: Lakers
- Saturday, April 2: Kings