Nick Young almost blew his shooting hand off on July 4

On July 4, 2015, New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre Paul blew apart his right hand trying to throw a lit firework. The catastrophic error in judgment and accident that followed cost him most of two fingers and the thumb on his right hand, as well as a chance to secure an extremely lucrative multi-year contract in free agency, prompting him to release a bracing fireworks safety video showcasing the damage he did to himself and cautioning others not to put themselves at similar risk this Fourth of July.

It seems Nick Young did not get that particular memo.

From TMZ:

Nick Young came thiiiis close to losing his hand in a stupid fireworks accident … when the NBA star picked up a tube holding a lit artillery shell … and it exploded while he was holding it.

It all went down at Nick’s massive 4th of July party at his L.A. home — when Nick saw the lit fuse … and thought it would be fun if he set it off while holding it over his head.

Lucky for Nick, he escaped from the situation unscathed … but it was a verrrrry close call.

I’m no explosives professional, but I’m pretty sure that grabbing an already lit mortar that’s seconds away from going off with your bare hand and holding it over your head while onlookers yell “NICK, NO!” is just about as bad a string of fireworks-related decisions as you can make. The calculus gets even worse when you consider that the 31-year-old Young — still under contract with the Los Angeles Lakers and set to make $5.4 million this season as a shooting guard — picked up the firework with his shooting hand.

Luckily, and somewhat staggeringly, Young escaped unscathed, living to shoot and shop and shoot another day. Whether he’ll continue to do so in purple and gold this coming season remains to be seen. After the Lakers selected Duke swingman Brandon Ingram with the No. 2 pick in last month’s 2016 NBA draft and re-signed combo guard Jordan Clarkson to a four-year, $50 million deal to team in the backcourt with 2015 No. 2 pick D’Angelo Russell — with whom, you might remember, Young had a bit of a run-in late last season — “it will be a surprise if [Young is] not traded or waived before training camp,” according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.

Then again, surprises seem to abound around Swaggy P, for better or for worse. Let’s just hope nobody gets severely injured whenever the next one comes up.