Portland Trail Blazers veteran Trevor Ariza obviously didn't appreciate Atlanta Hawks sophomore sensation Trae Young's attempted nutmeg Saturday.
Ariza responded to the trickery with a stiff forearm to Young, and shared postgame his message to the 21-year-old.
"I told him, 'Don't do that shit again, not to me, at least,'" Ariza said after his team's 129-117 loss, according to The Athletic's Jason Quick. "I mean, I've never made an All-Defensive team or none of that shit, and he's an All-Star, so he can be creative by ways to get around me. But all the, like, funnies? I'm not with the funnies. I don't like the funnies."
Young has used the nutmeg to great effect in his first two seasons in the NBA, but Ariza, a 16-year veteran, wasn't about to allow it.
"I ain't been nutmegged, period," he said. "I've been crossed over, I've been dunked on, there's been a lot of shit. Those are basketball plays.
He added: "I mean, I'm not mad at him or anything. What happened, happened. It's over. I'm sure as a basketball player, a person who takes pride in playing their man and competing, understands what he did. That's all, no big deal. There's just certain shit you cannot do."
Young chalked up the physical play to the heat of competition.
"It was nothing," he said. "Competitiveness."
