At one point in time, guard Lonzo Ball was the talk of the NBA, as the Los Angeles Lakers were determined to draft him at No. 2 overall to become the new face of the franchise, with Magic Johnson singing his praises daily.
Although Ball had some limited success with the Lakers, he never came close to living up to being a No. 2 pick for an organization that has a history of producing superstars out of the draft or bringing them to Los Angeles through trades.
Ultimately, Ball became one of those young players traded by the Lakers to bring in a superstar, which turned out to be Anthony Davis.
Ball went on to play for the New Orleans Pelicans and started to show some promise as a potential star in this league, but he was traded again to the Chicago Bulls, which, unfortunately, may be his last stop for all the wrong reasons.
Injury issues have become a persistent problem for Ball, resulting in him playing only 35 games for the Bulls before missing last season and being set to miss next season.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith got information that things have gotten so bad for Ball that he struggled standing up and sitting down, so the young guard called him out in a video, drawing this response from the famous pundit.
Happy to do so, Lonzo. Nice to know you’d finally like me to reach out. Not a problem. You know how to reach me, too. I’m here. https://t.co/kOFbZI7ksX
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) August 22, 2023
Hopefully, for Ball’s sake, the 25-year-old can salvage his playing career in the NBA and get over the injury problems he’s had over the past few years.
As of right now, it doesn’t look good with him expected to miss all of next season, but he’s still young and might have a chance to bounce back at some point.
NEXT: Lonzo Ball Denies Stephen A. Smith’s Claims About His Knee Issues
