From an NBA role player to an internet celebrity with an annual income of tens of millions! The low-end version of Kobe s gorgeous turn

When Arenas said "He can reproduce all Kobe's moves, but he is as stupid as a stone", almost everyone thought that Nick Young would become another footnote to "waste talent" in NBA history - this scorer with the halo of "Kobe's successor" has always been tied to the labels of "ball rights black hole", "inefficient singles" and "mental instability". He faded out of the league at the age of 33. But no one expected that many years later, this character player who was questioned as "brainless" would stun the world in another way: the question mark face emoticon package was used more than 8.6 billion times worldwide, the annual sales of personal popular brands exceeded US$12 million, the market value of the invested e-sports clubs and fried chicken brands doubled, and the annual income after retirement far exceeded the total NBA career. Nick Young proves with a "gorgeous turn" that subverts cognition, his "absurdity" is never stupid, but life wisdom and business ambition hidden behind humor. The slums in southern Los Angeles are the beginning of Nick Young's life story. There is no glamorous basketball dream here, only the heavy trauma caused by fate. When he was 6 years old, his eldest brother Charles was accidentally killed in a gang fight, and blood stained the streets at his doorstep. Not long after, his second brother was sent to a mental hospital for mental problems, and the once lively family was instantly deserted. Looking at his father Willy's increasingly depressed face, the young Nick Young hid his sadness in silence until his father stuffed a basketball into his arms: "Come on, let me see how powerful you are." The open-air court in Robertson Park became Nick Young's place of redemption. The sound of a basketball hitting the ground replaced the harsh gunshots in my mind; the moment the ball entered the net, healed the broken pain of the family. He is born with excellent ball sense and body flexibility. Any difficult movement can be reproduced by just watching it once - from Jordan's back jump shot to Kobe's dribble under his crotch, he can always use "fairy operation" to ignite the whole game on the field. When he shook his opponent and hit the buzzer-beating victory and was surrounded by his teammates, he felt the warmth of "needed" for the first time in his heart that had been suppressed for a long time. It was from this time that he began to be keen on developing fancy technical actions, not to show off, but to build a protective shell of "happy basketball" for himself in this ornamental way.

, but the freedom of the wild court became an "original sin" when he arrived at the regular court. In four years of high school, Nick Young was disliked by the coach for "not playing according to tactics". He went to three schools and did not explode until he was in Cleveland High School: he averaged 27.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, 57.3% from the field, and 46.8% from three-point shooting percentage, leading the team to a record of 25 wins and 4 losses, ranking among the top ten high school students in the United States. When everyone thought he would choose a basketball school, he unexpectedly joined the University of Southern California (USC) - a school with mediocre basketball skills that can make him the absolute core. Looking back at this choice many years later, no one thinks he is "stupid" anymore: he knows better how to make himself the focus than being a supporting role in a famous basketball school. This sensitivity to "personal label" has long laid the foreshadowing of future business success.

2007 draft, Nick Young was selected by the Wizards in the 16th pick in the first round and officially entered the NBA. But the arena here is much crueler than high school and college - the coach asked him to abide by the tactics, and his teammates expected him to share the ball, but his "wild court-like" scoring instinct instinct in his bones made him the focus of controversy. Fortunately, he met Arenas. This star, who is also full of personality, protects him like his brother: blocking the coach's accusations for him, paying him a penalty for mistakes, and even actively applying to the coach when he was hot: "I feel a little uncomfortable, let him play for a while."

2010-11 season, the "gun gate" incident made Arenas banned. Nick Young finally got enough playing time. He handed over a report card that averaged 17.4 points and became the Wizards' scoring champion in the season. But behind this data, there are still lingering doubts: in the game against the Kings, he scored 43 points in 17 of 29 shots, but in overtime, he forced his shots to fail to make a series of double-teams, resulting in the team losing. After the game, facing the reporter's question "Why don't you pass the ball", he shrugged and replied "Kobe? I am Kobe" - this seemingly arrogant statement has become the ironclad evidence of his "low ball quotient", but it also unexpectedly shaped his "maverick" personal image.

In his subsequent career, Nick Young began to "wander": he was traded to the Clippers, and was abandoned by the team for complaining that "the tactics are too complicated, I only need the basket". After playing for the 76ers for a short time, he joined the Lakers and proved his scoring ability with an average of 17.9 points per game while Kobe was recuperating, but he never became the core of the team; until the summer of 2017, he accepted the invitation from Durant and Curry to join the Warriors. In this inclusive team, the coach did not criticize his "unreasonable" shooting, and his teammates appreciated his frankness. He also won the only championship ring in his career with the team.

But just when everyone thought he would continue to pursue his NBA career, Nick Young chose to retreat. After playing for the Nuggets for 4 games, he did not hold any retirement ceremony and packed his bags and left the field with ease. At that time, the outside world was still teasing him that he "can't play anymore", but he didn't realize that this character player who never found a "sense of belonging" in the NBA had already planned the next path for himself - a path that was more suitable for him than basketball.

Nick Young's transformation began with an accident - in 2015, he missed a desperate kill in the game because his teammates missed the final shot, revealing a "question mark face" full of doubts and helplessness. This expression was screenshot by netizens and quickly became popular around the world, with more than 8.6 billion uses.. Unlike other stars' resistance to emoticons, Nick Young keenly seized this opportunity: he actively forwarded his emoticons on social platforms, and even shot short videos to imitate this expression, completely amplifying the "absurd" personal label.

Soon, his social account became a "traffic password": sharing funny daily life, co-producing humorous short dramas with his wife, participating in internet celebrity boxing matches, talk show matches, and even briefly joining the BIG3 league, maintaining popularity with an ornamental style. Every exposure strengthens the perception of "Nick Young = Interesting". His fans have grown in a geometric manner, becoming the most "net-like" existence among retired NBA players.

But Nick Young's ambitions are far more than "Internet celebrity". He knows very well that traffic is only meaningful only when it is converted into commercial value. In 2019, he launched the popular brand "Most Hated", which originated from the controversy of his career - "Since everyone hates my 'unreasonable', then I will turn this 'hate' into a feature." The brand focuses on street style, and the design incorporates basketball elements and his iconic quotes. After it was launched, it was quickly sought after by young people, with annual sales exceeding US$12 million.

Immediately afterwards, he expanded his business territory: serving as the general manager of the MHP team of the Drew League, using his influence to invite NBA stars to participate, making this originally niche summer league an IP that is of interest to the whole United States; investing in e-sports clubs to target the entertainment needs of young groups; opening fried chicken brand stores to transform the "Internet celebrity effect" into physical consumption. In just a few years, his business income not only far exceeded his NBA career salary (the total career income was about US$44 million), but also established a business system with "personal IP" as the core.

Now Nick Young is no longer the NBA role player questioned "brainless". His social media signature "They hate me cause they ain’t me" reveals his business philosophy: he never tries to change the outside world's view of himself, but instead transforms controversial labels such as "absurdity" and "maverick" into unique competitive advantages. Those traits that were once regarded as "failures" eventually became his weapons to break through the siege in the business world. The story of Nick Young has never been as simple as a "lucky internet celebrity". His "gorgeous turn" is a precise breakthrough in life's dilemma: using basketball to fight trauma in childhood, the NBA uses humor to resolve controversy, and using traffic to leverage business after retirement. He knew that his advantage was not to be Kobe, but to be the unique Nick Young - a "absurd master" who can shoot "unreasonable" winning shots on the court and create a "Most Hated" trendy brand in the business world.

For countless NBA role players, Nick Young's transformation offers a brand new model: a basketball career may have an end, but the extension of personal value is never ending. When he responded to his previous doubts with his business achievements of earning tens of millions of yuan per year, we finally understand that his "absurdity" is never stupidity, but a sober self-awareness, a life attitude of "not catering to, not compromising".

From a basketball boy in the slums in Los Angeles, to an NBA championship, to a business expert with an annual income of tens of millions, Nick Young proves with his own life that the so-called legend does not necessarily need to stand on the top of the arena; finding his own track, even if he starts from a "role player", he can still walk out of a "gorgeous turn" that stuns the world.