Getty Zach LaVine is becoming one of the league's most prolific scorers and could garner trade interests.
Nate Robinson has always chased a challenge outside of the realm of possibility. The 5-foot-9 guard made a name for himself by becoming the only three-time NBA Slam Dunk contest champion in a competition where someone of his stature is often written off.
Robinson, at age 36 has attempted to prove doubters again by transitioning to a boxing career. He challenged social media influencer turned boxer Jake Paul to a match back in May. Somehow, the match made its way to the undercard of the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. pay-per-view card on Nov. 28.
Robinson, in his first career fight, did not fare well, eating a second-round knockout punch from Paul that sent shakes through social media.
JAKE PAUL JUST PUT NATE ROBINSON TO SLEEP t.co/UkKYVX3jGW
While many have told Robinson to stick to basketball, Chicago Bulls guard Zach Lavine maintained the highest respect for Robinson.
He still a dog💯 @nate_robinson #Respect
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Lavine Backs Robinson’s Reason for Fight
Before the fight, Robinson took to Twitter to clear up his reasons for the fight beyond the propagated trash talk to garner interest.
“Tonight, I’m fighting for my brothers in the NBA, athletes across the world, and most importantly my children,” Robinson tweeted. Lavine shared the tweet with a 100 emoji to share his support for Robinson.
The fight was instigated by Robinson who called out Paul, coming off his first career boxing win, for picking easy fights to improve his brand.
“I just know Jake Paul’s been calling out all these YouTubers that have no experience in boxing and fighting at all,” Robinson said. “Fight somebody that’s worth fighting.”
Robinson took to social media and called out Paul, even talking on TMZ Sports about being “dead serious” about fighting Paul.
Paul responded: “Yeah, so he was talking s*** on Instagram a bunch,” Paul said. “And then saying like, ‘I’m an athlete, I could beat anybody. Jake Paul, you suck.’ And he was showing his boxing skills while he was doing all that.”
Robinson applauded Paul for taking the fight, saying “it’s pretty cool that he took the fight. He’s not a little scared-a** schoolgirl, and he’s ready to fight, you know what I’m saying? He’s ready to get in the ring and ready to get it popping. So I’m ready to go.”
As the fight drew closer, both Robinson and Paul admitted how surreal the process of being added to the Tyson-Jones card had become.
“Yeah, it’s surreal,” Paul told Heavy. “Honestly, I don’t even know how to describe it with words. It’s just a dream come true. And my friends had to make me realize how crazy it is because I just couldn’t fathom it, really. And so they were able to bring me back down to earth and say, Bro, this is crazy.’”.
Robinson: “It’s just surreal, man. It’s pretty cool to be able to throw something into the universe and actually watch it manifest.”
Robinson Compares Lavine to Vince Carter
While Lavine and Robinson were evaluated entirely different out of college, both NBA stars rose to notoriety from their performances in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Lavine won back-to-back NBA Slam Dunk Contests in 2015 and 2016 as one of five two-time champions in NBA history.
Robinson discussed Lavine with Heavy’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson back in June and compared the 25-year-old to Vince Carter.
“Vince Carter almost damn near hits it on the head,” Nate Robinson said.
Here’s his assessment of the Bulls star who Nate Robinson says is more than just a dunker:
I would say, Zach has a little – I like his game because he can create off the dribble, create a shot for himself and others. If you’re able to do that, that will make you almost unguardable.
One, he has athleticism. So when he gets by guys, he’s dunking and it’s easy. Guys don’t even want to jump with him so he has a lot of things going in his favor. And he has developed his game over the years from like, when he came into the league to when he had to wait and to be patient and he still had everything that he had now. It just wasn’t magnified because of the team that he was on and he had to wait. And when he got his opportunity, he came in and showed that he could really ball.
He’s not just a dunker. You know, he did the 3-Point Contest, he plays defense, and he does everything. Everything you ask, he does and people don’t understand that Zach LaVine is 6’7” almost 6’8”; like, he’s taller than most people think. Like, the man can fly and the one thing that love about him is his work ethic. Him and his dad, they really grind so hard and when I seen – when he tore his ACL, I knew that he was going to come back even better because of the work that he puts in rehab and attacking and being ready for that moment. And he’s shown that and proven that he is one of the best players in the league.
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