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Nick Young joins the Warriors, as the rich get richer and Swaggier

Dan Devine
Senior NBA writer
Nick Young's ready to fire to his heart's content in Oakland. (Getty)
Nick Young’s ready to fire to his heart’s content in Oakland. (Getty)

Last season, the Golden State Warriors took one former member of the knucklehead-era Washington Wizards and turned him into a productive contributor to an NBA championship team. Now, it’s time for another; with JaVale McGee’s legacy as the first player to win a ring with a rat-tail secure, the Dubs intend to get Swaggy.

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That’s right: Nick Young will join the Warriors on a one-year, $5.2 million deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, taking the taxpayer midlevel exception to play for the defending champs.

Evidently, Draymond Green’s recruiting efforts are as successful now as they were last summer.

And apparently, Draymond wasn’t the only Warrior making a sales pitch:

Young is likely best known to casual fans as a “Shaqtin’ a Fool”-brand of basketball internet celebrity, one whose exploits have included (but are not limited to):

• Failing to conquer the Cinnamon Challenge with JaVale;

• Air-mailing layups and ceremonial first pitches alike;

• Rocking Superman onesies, Egyptian party shirts of the 1970s and, I guess, a fade mullet?;

• Invoking “Django Unchained” and “Driving Miss Daisy” when detailing what it’s like to play with Kobe Bryant;

• Getting embroiled in a tabloid-gossip maelstrom when D’Angelo Russell’s surreptitious recording of a sensitive conversation led to fissures in Young’s relationship with then-girlfriend/celebrity musician Iggy Azalea and in the Lakers locker room;

• Insisting his right arm is tattoo-free because it is “strictly for buckets” before deciding instead it was for buckets and a tattoo of 2Pac;

• Claiming God came to him in a dream to bestow upon him the nickname Swaggy P;

• And, of course, celebrating a buzzer-beating 3-pointer while it was still in the air, only for it to wind up well wide of its target.

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When he’s not doing things that are ridiculous and/or hilarious, Young also plays basketball. Quiet as it’s kept, he was pretty good at it last year for the Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 13.2 points in 25.9 minutes per game in 60 appearances while shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point land and digging in defensively under first-year head coach Luke Walton — a former top assistant in Golden State, and someone with the ear of Warriors boss Steve Kerr. In fact, the 6-foot-7 swingman was one of the most efficient catch-and-shoot players in the league last year, joining a pair of names that’ll be pretty familiar to Bay Area fans:

The 32-year-old’s shooting prowess, improved offensive efficiency and somewhat surprising defensive viability made him a target of multiple teams looking for help on the wing, with the Timberwolves and Pelicans both reportedly interested in securing his services. In the end, though, Young chose to link up with the defending champs in what could be a similar role to the one played over the past couple of seasons by unrestricted free agent Ian Clark as a second-unit combo guard who spaces the floor, moves without the ball and fires it when he gets it.

Young will join the just-added Omri Casspi to give the Warriors a pair of big wings off the bench capable of slotting in at multiple positions and making it rain from each of them. After bringing back Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston to keep together the core of last season’s title team, the rich continue to get even richer … and, in this case, more absurd.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!