In April, 2022, the farewell press conference of the Lakers season, Kendrick Nunn’s words made Lakers fans despair.
“I know that I have just experienced a fully reimbursed season, so I don’t have to consider the implementation of the player option for next season.”
Angry Lakers fans captured the account number Instagram of Nunn again and again. Under the one that Nunn participated in the fashion show, the fans left a message to satirize that Nunn could not play off-site activities, but there were many. Even under the one naen announced that her daughter would be born soon, a small number of extreme fans left a message satirizing naen was busy creating people but could not play.
These are all the release of the disappointment of Lakers fans, who have too high expectations for Nunn. Last year, the Lakers used the precious tax special case to sign Nunn and gave him a two-year contract worth 10.3 million dollars, but he didn’t play a regular season match because of knee contusions, just played 4 preseason games.
The good news is that naen finally recovered after several repeated injuries. He performed extremely well four days before the training camp. Coach Ham revealed that naen might start with the three giants and Damian Jones.
I haven’t participated in the official competition for a year, but I just returned, but I may force Beverly to play the starting game. Why is naen? Can the Lakers trust him again?
Nunn High School was a local legend. He won four consecutive championships in the state league with Jia Barry Parker, who was elected to the top in 2014, and enjoyed the honor of retiring the jersey. When he graduated from high school, Nunn was a four-star high school student, who entered the list of 100 high school students and also helped the U16 Youth team win gold medals.
After entering NCAA, Nunn chose the University of Illinois to be close to home. Under the guidance of coach John Gross, Nunn made continuous progress. In the 2015-16 season, Nunn scored 15.5 points in the junior three games, with a three-point hit rate of as high. At that time, although some insiders questioned that Nunn was too short to score high-yield and efficient scores after entering NBA, it was true that Nunn had the potential to be selected by NBA teams.
However, on the night of March 17, 2016, the fate of Nunn changed dramatically. Because he was involved in a lawsuit against others, Nunn’s reputation plummeted.
According to the police file, a conflict broke out with a woman that night. According to Nunn, he went to the woman’s apartment to ask for the 100 dollars that the woman owed him. In the dispute, Nunn lost his calm and poured water on the other side’s head. In addition, when naen grabbed car key from the woman, the woman’s right hand was scratched. However, the woman’s statement was much more serious. She accused Nunn of hitting the back of her head and pinching her neck.
On March 18, the police issued an arrest warrant and Nunn surrendered at the suggestion of gross. After that, naen chose to confess after weighing the pros and cons with the lawyer. He admitted that he poured water on the other side, but did not admit that he pinched the other side’s neck. In the end, naen was sentenced to a misdemeanor of personal assault, accepted court supervision for 18 months, conducted 100 hours of public service, apologized to the woman, and fined 200 dollars.
This scandal changed the trajectory of Nunn’s life. He thought he could return to the University of Illinois after admitting guilt and accepting the punishment he deserved, and continue his college career after accepting a period of ban. But unexpectedly, the University of Illinois issued a statement to expel Nunn. Naen had no face to meet people, and even asked his teammates to help him when buying meals. He hid in the room every day and didn’t see anyone. He had to go out so tightly that no one could recognize him.
Repentance gnawed naen’s heart like ants, but life still needed to continue and dreams needed to be realized. In order to enter NBA, Nunn transferred to Auckland University. Before him, this university only produced 3 NBA players. At this time, Nunn had no choice, because no team was willing to give Nunn a chance except the University of Auckland.
According to the rules of NCAA, naen could not play in the first year after transferring to school. In the 2017-18 season, he finally put on the battle robe of Auckland University. During the season, naen scored 25.9 points and 3.8 assists per game. He was the second scorer in the United States, second only to Trey-Yang, and scored 134 points in total, there are only 28 differences from the historical record of 162 three points in Curry’s single season.
“He is super talented, capable of attacking the basket, and can shoot three points with a very high hit rate,” the scout approved of Nunn’s ability, but he also said that there was a high probability that Nunn would lose the election, “He may have to play overseas first, or develop the league and find opportunities to enter the NBA.”
Sure enough, the scandal made naen lose the election at the 2018 draft conference. After losing the election, naen chose to represent the Warriors in the summer league. He also participated in the training camp, but failed to get a formal contract. Before the 2018-19 season began, the Warriors laid off naen and gave him a contract of Exhibit 10 to develop the league team to play. Warriors recognize Nunn’s scoring ability, and they hope Nunn will develop in the direction of Louis Williams. This season, Nunn played 49 games in Santa Cruz Warriors and only started one game. He averaged 19 points, field goal percentage 47.3%.
Nunn also went to the King for trial training. The king told him that they would leave the best players. As a result, the King left B.J. Johnson, who was laid off after only one game for the king, and then joined Magic only to sign a two-way contract.
In the summer of 2019, Nunn’s career finally turned around, and he began to track the heat of Nunn’s performance in 2018 to open a three-year contract. Kalemo, an executive of the heat scout department, said: “He is better than most of the players we have investigated. We have seen potential in him. He can shoot three points or break through, he is the kind of player that will make the defender headache.”
On October 19, 2019, in the last preseason game of the heat, Nunn cut 40 points against the Rockets, which was the highest score of the Heat players in the preseason game in the past 20 years. This is not a flash in the pan. Naen extended his scoring show to the regular season. In the first five games of the season, naen scored 22.4 points per game, his total score in the first five games of his career set a record for draft history. If it is not limited to the drop draft, only Durant and Stackhouse have scored more in the first five games of their career in the past 25 years.
Kalemo said: “He is too comprehensive and can always find a way to score. It is very difficult to defend.”
Throughout the season, Nunn scored 15.3 points on average and was the fourth scorer of the heat. He helped the Heat kill all the way to the finals, while his annual salary was only 1.42 million dollars. In the rookie of the year vote, Nain only lost to Morant and ranked second, scoring more than Zion Williamson.
In the 2020-21 season, the number of naen shots decreased, but they still scored 14.6 points in the game, with a field goal percentage of 48.5 percent and a three-point hit rate increased to 38.1 percent. ESPN celebrity Zac Lowe said, not just warriors, there are many teams in the league who have inspected Nunn and regret not signing Nunn.
With naen’s strength, the off-season in 2021was a good opportunity for him to win a big contract. However, the Heat chose to introduce lorry, and naen could only leave the team. He signed a two-year 10.3 million-dollar contract with the Lakers. The signing was very good at that time, because naen was a scorer with both ball holding and no ball. In 2020-21 season, he scored 0.9 points in each round of singles and 1.22 points in each round of fixed-point shooting, its three-point hit rate of receive the ball reached 42.1 percent.
In the idea of the Lakers, Nunn can not only be present with the three giants at the same time, but also act as the main ball holding point during the rotation time. But because of the bizarre “knee contusions”, naen didn’t play for a second in the whole regular season. No one knows why a knee injury without structural damage will continue to repeat, nunn couldn’t even take part in the normal intensity training.
For naen, who is striving for a big contract in the year of the fight, this is certainly not the result he wants. However, injuries are uncontrollable factors. In front of injuries and numerous accusations, he only has a deep sense of powerlessness.
Fortunately, Nunn never lacks the courage to start all over again. His characteristics of adapting to the big three are still there, and he is expected to prove himself again in the Lakers in the new season. Just like Gross, the mentor of Nunn, once said:
“He has two choices, either get up and continue fighting and become a better self. Or let past failures define you.”
“He chose the former.”