LOS ANGELES _ Nick Young and Jordan Clarkson were not scheduled to speak at Julius Randle's wedding. It was an elegant affair, bathed in white roses to celebrate a love that began almost instantly when Randle met Kendra Shaw at a friend's party in college.
The friend who introduced them spoke at the reception. A coach who grew to be like a brother to Randle spoke. So did some childhood friends.
Then Young and Clarkson, lubricated by wedding wine and the firm belief that the wedding guests expected their shenanigans, got an idea. They loved Randle. The people needed to hear them, they presumed.
Together, they took the microphone.
Clarkson, then Randle's teammate with the Lakers, declared he couldn't stand Randle when they first met. Randle's punishing style of play in high school irked Clarkson's friends who played against him back in Texas. Just as Randle's mother reared up to protect her sweet baby boy, Clarkson finished, saying as he got to know Randle as part of the same Lakers rookie class in 2014, he learned Randle would do anything for his friends and loved ones.
Then Young told a love story in a way only he could. He'd never seen a rookie so head over heels, he told the guests who hadn't started filtering out. He cited one example.
"There were times when me and Jordan were saying we were trying to take him to a strip club," Young said, recalling his speech this week. "And he didn't go."
The crowd laughed.
"He was a good one."
Eventually, Randle wrested the microphone from the two jesters. Former Lakers Larry Nance Jr. and Tarik Black also spoke.
"They gave more mature speeches," Randle said, laughing at the memory last week.
Young and Clarkson take almost nothing seriously, but their speeches, perhaps inadvertently, highlighted two parts of Randle's personality that live in harmony.
He is the Lakers' enforcer, their 6-foot-9 starting power forward and bully on the court. Someone who might give up size but never toughness to any opponent. At 23, he is also a devoted husband, father, friend and son, someone who decided as a child that he needed to be the man of the house, even though he was the smallest in the household.
Randle's mother gets emotional talking about her sweet-natured child.
He is always all about protecting his people.
That's what fueled him through the summer. It's what helped him push through adversity early in the season to become a force for the Lakers and garner notice around the league. In the last few months, Randle has shown the league who he can be and probably earned millions in his next contract.
"He's still only, in my opinion, at the very beginning of what kind of player he's going to be in this league," Lakers coach Luke Walton said.
Randle is also showing what's always been true about him: Cross his teammates, family or friends at your peril.
