Nick Young wants the Lakers to be 'player haters of the year'

The Los Angeles Lakers may be officially eliminated from the playoffs, but that doesn't mean they don't have anything to play for. Following their embarrassment of the New York Knicks on Tuesday, point guard Kendall Marshall laid out Nick Young's mantra for the rest of this lame-duck season:

It's actually not a bad motivational incentive, and the home stretch of the Lakers' schedule puts them in a perfect position to do some damage. They have one game left against each of the three teams jockeying for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference (the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies), one against another West team on the bubble (the Minnesota Timberwolves), three against top West seeds (the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers) and one against the reeling Portland Trail Blazers.

They also play the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, currently the owners of the worst record in the NBA. Considering the Bucks are competing directly with the Lakers for draft-lottery positioning, the "player hater" role in that particular game may come from letting the Bucks win.

Either way, leave it to Swaggy P to make the most of a lost season.