Over his past six games, which includes five starts, Malik Monk has been scorching hot, averaging 20.7 points on 73.1 percent true shooting (.566/.455/.900 split). His versatile scoring has been a tremendous boon to the Los Angeles Lakers’ offense, and he’s formed a dynamic partnership with LeBron James.
Against the Sacramento Kings Tuesday, he scored 11 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and knocked down a trio of threes to help Los Angeles snag its third consecutive win.
Apparently, he’s borrowing a philosophy from a former Lakers shooting guard that might be helping him torch the nets these days. According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Monk doesn’t have any tattoos on his right arm because it’s ‘strictly’ for ‘buckets’, the same sentiment Nick Young announced years ago.
Malik Monk says his right arm is tattoo-free because he was inspired by Nick Young (via @Lakers) pic.twitter.com/VuANHPHhY5
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 4, 2022
When Young was alerted of this parallel, he turned to The Karate Kid to summarize the dynamic.
“I’m Mr. Miyagi and he’s LaRusso,” Young told McMenamin via text. “The power of the no tat on the right arm is like wax on, wax off for buckets”
Nick Young, in a text to ESPN, on Malik Monk adopting his “strictly buckets” policy banning tattoos on his shooting arm: “I’m Mr. Miyagi and he’s LaRusso. The power of the no tat on the right arm is like wax on, wax off for buckets”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 5, 2022
Young’s four years with the Lakers was certainly an electric tenure, one that saw him average a career-high 17.9 points and shoot 38.6 percent beyond the arc during the 2013-14 season. Like Young, Los Angeles is probably hoping Monk sticks around for a while and continues to pour in buckets with the arm that’s designed strictly for them.