JaVale McGee says he would like it if the Lakers signed Nick Young

[#X A V I ♕]

On a roster with JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo and Lance Stephenson that is already being called “The Meme Team,” seemingly the only way the Los Angeles Lakers could lean into their new brand even further would be by calling up their former shooting guard, living question mark meme and current NBA free agent, Nick Young.

But even beyond just doing it for the memes, Young’s skill as a 3-point shooter (career 37.6 percent shooter from behind the arc) could give the Lakers some long-range punch they sorely need, at least in theory.

Young himself at least seems to think so, judging by a tweet he already sent (and later deleted) implying he felt he could help the Lakers. It turns out he’s not the only one who believes he’d be an asset either, as McGee told Zion Olojede of Complex

Finally your brother, Nick Young, is still a free agent and has voiced his opinions publicly about helping this Lakers squad. Would you want him in purple and gold this season?

McGee: If he gets signed, that would be great so, definitely, yeah.

Now, the first thing to be noted here is the context of McGee’s answer. First of all, he didn’t exactly demand that the Lakers immediately sign his former Washington Wizards and Golden State Warriors teammate. Second, McGee didn’t reveal this as some unprompted decree to bring in his friend, he was merely answering a question. Would anyone really expect him to say “no, I don’t want the Lakers to sign my friend,” or something?

All that said, would the Lakers really even consider bringing back Young, even if McGee really was demanding it? The answer is probably no, given that McGee is on a veteran’s minimum, one-year deal and doesn’t really have the clout necessary to make such requests, even if that really were what he was doing.

There is also the reality that Young didn’t exactly dismiss concerns that he couldn’t contribute to winning during his playoff run with the Warriors last season, shooting just 30.2 percent overall and 29.8 percent from deep before falling out of the rotations as the Warriors won the title.

Making matters worse for Young’s chances of getting signed was his suggestion that cocaine should be legalized in the aftermath of the Warriors championship (via TMZ/Complex):

“I want people to pass cocaine,” Young said outside 1 OAK, a nightclub.

But why? Isn’t there a reason the drug is illegal?

”Everybody needs to do cocaine!” he exclaimed.

So... Yeah. While it’s possible the Lakers could use their open roster spot on a shooter, they probably aren’t signing Nick Young, whether McGee actually wants it or not.

All stats per Basketball-Reference. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.