The Nacua brothers haven’t been strangers to controversy.

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Old videos of incidents involving Samson Nacua and Kai Nacua have gone viral, after the former was arrested for stealing a vehicle belonging to Los Angeles Lakers forward Adou Thiero.

Samson and Kai Nacua are the older brothers of Los Angeles Rams superstar wide receiver Puka Nacua. On Wednesday, news broke that Samson Nacua and friend Trey Rose were arrested over the weekend for stealing Adou Thiero’s SUV.

News of Samson’s arrest followed a controversy involving Puka Nacua during a live stream with Adin Ross and N3on. Nacua made an antisemitic gesture on the stream and later apologized, claiming he didn’t know it was offensive.

On that same stream, Puka called out the NFL refs and accused them of making bad calls because they want to be on television. Puka also called out the refs in a since-deleted X/Twitter post after his Los Angeles Rams fell to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night.

Puka Nacua's brother arrested for allegedly stealing Lakers rookie's car | YardbarkerSamson Nacua (Photos via USA Today and Twitter)
And yet, the incidents mentioned above aren’t the first controversies involving either of the Nacua brothers. Liam Blutman of Barstool Sports posted a video of an incident involving Samson in April. Here, Samson slapped a fan during a heated conversation:


The incident led to a one-game suspension for the Michigan Panthers’ wide receiver.

Perhaps he learned the bad habit from his older brother, Kai. After the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl between BYU’s Cougars and the Memphis Tigers, cameras caught Nacua throwing a sucker punch from behind.

A Memphis player retaliated by punching Kai back. The NCAA suspended him, along with several other players, ahead of BYU’s 2015 season opener against Nebraska.

Samson finished the 2025 season with nine catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns, per Fox Sports. He was briefly on the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints rosters in 2022 and 2024, respectively. Nacua has never played an NFL snap.