Confused Nick Young

2014Reaction imagesemi-active

Also known as: Swaggy P · Nick Young Question Marks

Confused Nick Young is a 2014 reaction image of NBA player Swaggy P with question marks floating around his bewildered expression, used to convey confusion and disbelief.

Confused Nick Young is a reaction image of NBA player Nick Young (aka Swaggy P) looking bewildered with question marks floating around his head. The image comes from a 2014 YouTube web series and went viral in 2015 on Black Twitter, becoming one of the internet's most-used visual shorthand for confusion and disbelief.

reaction memescelebrity reaction memesblack twitter memesbasketball memesconfusion memes

Overview

The meme is a screenshot of Nick Young mid-conversation, his head tilted slightly, eyebrows furrowed, wearing an expression of genuine bafflement1. Someone added three question marks on each side of his head, turning a candid moment into a clean, instantly readable reaction image3. The format is dead simple: Nick's confused face plus whatever absurd statement or situation you want to react to. That simplicity is exactly why it works. No caption template to learn, no multi-panel setup. Just pure, unfiltered "wait... what?"3.

On July 22, 2014, photographer and filmmaker Cassy Athena uploaded an episode of her YouTube web series *Thru The Lens*, which followed athletes and celebrities through their daily routines4. The episode documented a day in the life of Nick Young, then a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, as he and his assistant Big Meat moved through Los Angeles1.

During filming, Young's mother was interviewed about his childhood. She described him as the neighborhood prankster, recounting how a young Nick once walked into a gym where Lakers player Cedric Ceballos was working out, grabbed the ball, put on a wild impromptu performance, handed the ball back, and just left1. Ceballos reportedly said the kid would be great if he ever took the game seriously. Then his mother dropped the kicker: "he was a clown then"5. Young's reaction to being called a clown, a tilted-head look of exaggerated confusion caught on camera at the 5:42 mark, became the source image2.

The episode was actually the first one filmed for the series but was released as the fourth episode of season one1. Someone later took a screenshot of Young's expression and added the now-iconic floating question marks, though exactly who made that edit is unknown4.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (source video), Twitter / Black Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Cassy Athena
Date
2014 (source video), 2015 (meme spread)

On July 22, 2014, photographer and filmmaker Cassy Athena uploaded an episode of her YouTube web series *Thru The Lens*, which followed athletes and celebrities through their daily routines. The episode documented a day in the life of Nick Young, then a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, as he and his assistant Big Meat moved through Los Angeles.

During filming, Young's mother was interviewed about his childhood. She described him as the neighborhood prankster, recounting how a young Nick once walked into a gym where Lakers player Cedric Ceballos was working out, grabbed the ball, put on a wild impromptu performance, handed the ball back, and just left. Ceballos reportedly said the kid would be great if he ever took the game seriously. Then his mother dropped the kicker: "he was a clown then". Young's reaction to being called a clown, a tilted-head look of exaggerated confusion caught on camera at the 5:42 mark, became the source image.

The episode was actually the first one filmed for the series but was released as the fourth episode of season one. Someone later took a screenshot of Young's expression and added the now-iconic floating question marks, though exactly who made that edit is unknown.

How It Spread

The meme picked up steam throughout 2015. On July 13, 2015, the @WorldStarFunny Twitter account posted a photoshopped version of Young wearing a sombrero with the caption "Que?" alongside a joke about trying to sneak out of a house. The tweet pulled over 4,000 likes and 1,900 retweets within two years.

Black Twitter ran with the format hard. The hashtag #GrowingUpBlack was trending on the platform, and users paired the Confused Nick Young image with relatable childhood moments. Instagram user @daquan shared screen captures of the meme, and on December 10, 2015, posted a Confused Nick Young with the caption "How many apps y'all gon use to talk to the same fuckin people," which picked up over 157,100 notes in 13 months.

On November 25, 2015, Twitter user @ChadJordan23 posted a photoshop of Young dressed as a Men in Black agent holding a neuralyzer, captioned with a joke about discussing a recent breakup. That tweet hit 19,200 likes and 15,000 retweets within 14 months.

The meme's biggest mainstream moment came on January 15, 2016, when actor Lamorne Morris (Winston from *New Girl*) got courtside tickets to a Lakers vs. Clippers game and decided to troll Young by holding up a printed copy of the meme image right in front of him. Morris posted the video to Instagram, where it racked up over 298,000 views and 800 comments within 24 hours. Young laughed it off, very much in character for the guy whose nickname is Swaggy P.

Google search interest for Nick Young peaked in late March 2016, likely driven by a combination of the meme's momentum and events in his personal life.

Platforms

TwitterRedditTumblrInstagramFacebookTikTok

Timeline

2014-01-01

Image begins circulating on Twitter and Reddit

2014-06-01

Becomes viral across platforms

2015-01-01

Established as one of the most-used reaction images

2015-present

Maintains evergreen status with consistent usage

2016-01-01

Confused Nick Young reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2017-01-01

Brands and companies started using Confused Nick Young in marketing

2019-01-01

Confused Nick Young entered the broader pop culture conversation

2025-01-01

Confused Nick Young is still actively used and shared across platforms

View on Google Trends

Media

How to Use This Meme

The Confused Nick Young meme works as a reaction to anything baffling, contradictory, or just plain weird. The question marks are optional but widely considered part of the canonical format.

1

Save the image of Nick Young with question marks around his head

2

Use it as a reply image: drop it in a thread or group chat when someone says something that makes no sense

3

For caption format, write a setup like 'When someone says [confusing thing]' above or alongside the image

4

Use the GIF version on platforms like Discord and Twitter for inline reactions

5

For remix edits, swap Young's outfit via Photoshop to match a specific scenario

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

Young himself leaned into the meme entirely. "That thing ain't died. It's been, what, two years now?" he said. "Some people only recognize me for that — ain't you the meme guy?". In a later appearance on the "Gil's Arena" show, Young revealed extra backstory: the conversation that triggered the confused face involved his mother discovering he'd visited a strip club on Valentine's Day, and his feigned innocence produced the now-famous expression.

The meme reached the finals of The Ringer's NBA Meme Bracket in 2018, competing against other basketball-born reaction images for the title of best NBA meme. Its popularity on Black Twitter specifically made it a key part of the platform's visual language during 2015-2016, often appearing alongside trending hashtags and during major cultural moments like the Drake and Meek Mill feud.

The meme also became a crossover between sports culture and internet culture more broadly. Young wasn't just an NBA player who happened to become a meme. He was a fashion-forward personality already known as Swaggy P, someone who'd done a guest fashion editor stint at Calvin Klein and cultivated an outsized public persona. The meme fit because it captured something real about him: a guy who genuinely seemed confused by the idea that anyone would call him a clown.

Fun Facts

The *Thru The Lens* episode was the first one filmed for the series but was released as episode four of season one.

The meme-worthy moment happens at exactly the 5:42 mark in the original YouTube video, which has over one million views.

Young's real reaction was to his mother calling him "a clown," but he later claimed the deeper context involved getting caught going to a strip club on Valentine's Day.

Lamorne Morris showing Young his own meme courtside in January 2016 was one of the earliest documented cases of a meme subject being confronted with their meme in real life at a public event.

Derivatives & Variations

Text-overlaid versions with specific sources of confusion

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Deep-fried and heavily modified versions

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Mashups combining Confused Nick Young with other reaction memes

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Photo comparisons using the image alongside related content

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Color-modified and high-contrast variations

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Frequently Asked Questions

Confused Nick Young

2014Reaction imagesemi-active

Also known as: Swaggy P · Nick Young Question Marks

Confused Nick Young is a 2014 reaction image of NBA player Swaggy P with question marks floating around his bewildered expression, used to convey confusion and disbelief.

Confused Nick Young is a reaction image of NBA player Nick Young (aka Swaggy P) looking bewildered with question marks floating around his head. The image comes from a 2014 YouTube web series and went viral in 2015 on Black Twitter, becoming one of the internet's most-used visual shorthand for confusion and disbelief.

reaction memes celebrity reaction memes black twitter memes basketball memes confusion memes

Overview

The meme is a screenshot of Nick Young mid-conversation, his head tilted slightly, eyebrows furrowed, wearing an expression of genuine bafflement. Someone added three question marks on each side of his head, turning a candid moment into a clean, instantly readable reaction image. The format is dead simple: Nick's confused face plus whatever absurd statement or situation you want to react to. That simplicity is exactly why it works. No caption template to learn, no multi-panel setup. Just pure, unfiltered "wait... what?".

On July 22, 2014, photographer and filmmaker Cassy Athena uploaded an episode of her YouTube web series *Thru The Lens*, which followed athletes and celebrities through their daily routines. The episode documented a day in the life of Nick Young, then a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, as he and his assistant Big Meat moved through Los Angeles.

During filming, Young's mother was interviewed about his childhood. She described him as the neighborhood prankster, recounting how a young Nick once walked into a gym where Lakers player Cedric Ceballos was working out, grabbed the ball, put on a wild impromptu performance, handed the ball back, and just left. Ceballos reportedly said the kid would be great if he ever took the game seriously. Then his mother dropped the kicker: "he was a clown then". Young's reaction to being called a clown, a tilted-head look of exaggerated confusion caught on camera at the 5:42 mark, became the source image.

The episode was actually the first one filmed for the series but was released as the fourth episode of season one. Someone later took a screenshot of Young's expression and added the now-iconic floating question marks, though exactly who made that edit is unknown.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (source video), Twitter / Black Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Cassy Athena
Date
2014 (source video), 2015 (meme spread)

On July 22, 2014, photographer and filmmaker Cassy Athena uploaded an episode of her YouTube web series *Thru The Lens*, which followed athletes and celebrities through their daily routines. The episode documented a day in the life of Nick Young, then a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, as he and his assistant Big Meat moved through Los Angeles.

During filming, Young's mother was interviewed about his childhood. She described him as the neighborhood prankster, recounting how a young Nick once walked into a gym where Lakers player Cedric Ceballos was working out, grabbed the ball, put on a wild impromptu performance, handed the ball back, and just left. Ceballos reportedly said the kid would be great if he ever took the game seriously. Then his mother dropped the kicker: "he was a clown then". Young's reaction to being called a clown, a tilted-head look of exaggerated confusion caught on camera at the 5:42 mark, became the source image.

The episode was actually the first one filmed for the series but was released as the fourth episode of season one. Someone later took a screenshot of Young's expression and added the now-iconic floating question marks, though exactly who made that edit is unknown.

How It Spread

The meme picked up steam throughout 2015. On July 13, 2015, the @WorldStarFunny Twitter account posted a photoshopped version of Young wearing a sombrero with the caption "Que?" alongside a joke about trying to sneak out of a house. The tweet pulled over 4,000 likes and 1,900 retweets within two years.

Black Twitter ran with the format hard. The hashtag #GrowingUpBlack was trending on the platform, and users paired the Confused Nick Young image with relatable childhood moments. Instagram user @daquan shared screen captures of the meme, and on December 10, 2015, posted a Confused Nick Young with the caption "How many apps y'all gon use to talk to the same fuckin people," which picked up over 157,100 notes in 13 months.

On November 25, 2015, Twitter user @ChadJordan23 posted a photoshop of Young dressed as a Men in Black agent holding a neuralyzer, captioned with a joke about discussing a recent breakup. That tweet hit 19,200 likes and 15,000 retweets within 14 months.

The meme's biggest mainstream moment came on January 15, 2016, when actor Lamorne Morris (Winston from *New Girl*) got courtside tickets to a Lakers vs. Clippers game and decided to troll Young by holding up a printed copy of the meme image right in front of him. Morris posted the video to Instagram, where it racked up over 298,000 views and 800 comments within 24 hours. Young laughed it off, very much in character for the guy whose nickname is Swaggy P.

Google search interest for Nick Young peaked in late March 2016, likely driven by a combination of the meme's momentum and events in his personal life.

Platforms

TwitterRedditTumblrInstagramFacebookTikTok

Timeline

2014-01-01

Image begins circulating on Twitter and Reddit

2014-06-01

Becomes viral across platforms

2015-01-01

Established as one of the most-used reaction images

2015-present

Maintains evergreen status with consistent usage

2016-01-01

Confused Nick Young reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2017-01-01

Brands and companies started using Confused Nick Young in marketing

2019-01-01

Confused Nick Young entered the broader pop culture conversation

2025-01-01

Confused Nick Young is still actively used and shared across platforms

View on Google Trends

Media

How to Use This Meme

The Confused Nick Young meme works as a reaction to anything baffling, contradictory, or just plain weird. The question marks are optional but widely considered part of the canonical format.

1

Save the image of Nick Young with question marks around his head

2

Use it as a reply image: drop it in a thread or group chat when someone says something that makes no sense

3

For caption format, write a setup like 'When someone says [confusing thing]' above or alongside the image

4

Use the GIF version on platforms like Discord and Twitter for inline reactions

5

For remix edits, swap Young's outfit via Photoshop to match a specific scenario

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

Young himself leaned into the meme entirely. "That thing ain't died. It's been, what, two years now?" he said. "Some people only recognize me for that — ain't you the meme guy?". In a later appearance on the "Gil's Arena" show, Young revealed extra backstory: the conversation that triggered the confused face involved his mother discovering he'd visited a strip club on Valentine's Day, and his feigned innocence produced the now-famous expression.

The meme reached the finals of The Ringer's NBA Meme Bracket in 2018, competing against other basketball-born reaction images for the title of best NBA meme. Its popularity on Black Twitter specifically made it a key part of the platform's visual language during 2015-2016, often appearing alongside trending hashtags and during major cultural moments like the Drake and Meek Mill feud.

The meme also became a crossover between sports culture and internet culture more broadly. Young wasn't just an NBA player who happened to become a meme. He was a fashion-forward personality already known as Swaggy P, someone who'd done a guest fashion editor stint at Calvin Klein and cultivated an outsized public persona. The meme fit because it captured something real about him: a guy who genuinely seemed confused by the idea that anyone would call him a clown.

Fun Facts

The *Thru The Lens* episode was the first one filmed for the series but was released as episode four of season one.

The meme-worthy moment happens at exactly the 5:42 mark in the original YouTube video, which has over one million views.

Young's real reaction was to his mother calling him "a clown," but he later claimed the deeper context involved getting caught going to a strip club on Valentine's Day.

Lamorne Morris showing Young his own meme courtside in January 2016 was one of the earliest documented cases of a meme subject being confronted with their meme in real life at a public event.

Derivatives & Variations

Text-overlaid versions with specific sources of confusion

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Deep-fried and heavily modified versions

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Mashups combining Confused Nick Young with other reaction memes

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Photo comparisons using the image alongside related content

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Color-modified and high-contrast variations

A variation of Confused Nick Young

(2014)

Frequently Asked Questions