PORTLAND, Ore. -- Nick Young swears a dolphin tried to kill him about a year ago in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
The Los Angeles Lakers reserve guard was on the defense of his story after it was learned that comedian Kevin Hart told an eerily similar tale about the time a dolphin tried to kill him in similar fashion.
Hart said his experience occurred in Miami and that as soon as he grabbed the dolphin's fin, "My dolphin went straight to the bottom of the tank. He just went down."
Young made a similar claim Tuesday night, saying, "For some reason, he took me all the way to the bottom. He was trying to drown me."
On Wednesday, before the Lakers lost 102-86 to the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center, Young said he wasn't aware of Hart's story.
"Nah," he said. "This is real, though. This really happened."
He also said he wasn't aware that Hart's story was similar.
"For real?" he asked. "That's crazy."
Lakers coach Byron Scott said he wasn't aware of Young's story until informed by reporters before Wednesday's game.
Scott laughed at the notion and said he had his doubts.
"He would've got me better if he had said a shark, but a dolphin?" Scott said. "C'mon."
Young expanded on what occurred with his dolphin, which he said dove about 25 feet before he realized something was wrong.
"I was more a little scared anyway," he said. "I think it probably felt my fears. Plus, I was, like, the tallest guy there. It was me, [girlfriend Iggy Azalea] and like three or four kids. I felt like the odd guy out anyway."
Young said he received no explanation as to what happened.
"He was already messed up anyway," Young said of the dolphin. "They were mad at him but they didn't want to hit him in front of us, but you could tell he was agitated. He kept leaving our group and going to talk to his friends. It was crazy."
Young later left the loss to the Blazers with an injury to his left ankle and didn't return. He missed three games after spraining his right ankle two weeks ago.
The Lakers called the injury a "peroneal tendon strain."
With the Lakers now off until Feb. 20 for the All-Star break, Young joked after the game about his plans.
"I'm going to get my revenge on a couple dolphins and go to Hawaii," he said.
Neither Young nor Scott was sure how long Young would be sidelined, but Young didn't think the injury was all that serious. He said he expected to be well enough to play again when the Lakers resume their schedule against the Brooklyn Nets.
"I should be all right over the break," Young said. "Just give it a little time to rest and get away."
Said Scott, "I don't know if he's going to need treatment the next three or four days or not, or you just let him go and hopefully it starts to heal up and he comes back on [Wednesday] and gets treatment as well for the next two days before we start back."
Young suffered the injury on the final play of the third quarter. He finished with nine points on 4-of-12 shooting in 14 minutes.