Lonzo Ball Dunks on Stephen A. Smith By Sitting Down, Standing Up Again
By Liam McKeone
Earlier this week Lonzo Ball confirmed he would miss the entirety of the 2023-24 NBA season as complications from the knee injury he suffered over a year ago continue to plague him. Ball hasn't stepped foot on an NBA court since January 2022 and it's starting to feel unlikely we'll ever see him do so again. Which is a massive bummer for everybody. Ball was awesome in his first few months with the Chicago Bulls and his journey as an NBA player was a good one.
Due to Ball's announcement his name came up during First Take discussion today. Stephen A. Smith said he heard that Ball's knee was in such bad shape that he was having trouble getting up when he sat down.
"I don't think he'll ever be the same... I've heard that it's even hard for him to get up from the sitting position... I'm really, really sad for him."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 22, 2023
Stephen A. Smith on Lonzo Ball missing another NBA season after his latest knee surgerypic.twitter.com/d5HjCyXfTK
It seems that Ball caught wind of it and was not a fan of the reporting at all. He posted a video to his own personal Twitter account of himself sitting down and standing back up a few times. He even balanced on one leg to hammer the point home. Throughout the video Ball is talking to the camera, telling the ESPN personality to "stop yapping" and signed off by insisting he was coming back.
@stephenasmith come to the actual source next time. I’m not hard to reach pic.twitter.com/88xyoB7LTf
— Lonzo Ball (@ZO2_) August 22, 2023
It has not been a great week for Stephen A. Smith the reporter. Yesterday he claimed Stefon Diggs wanted out of Buffalo, only for Diggs to publicly dispute the report mere hours later. Today the same thing happened with Ball. He's had a better few days.
Hopefully Ball's recovery goes smoothly and he gets back out there.