Lonzo Ball will remain sidelined for the 2023-24 season as he continues to rehab from a torn meniscus he suffered way back in January 2022. It will be the second consecutive season Ball has missed and no one is feeling the weight of that more than Ball himself. In a recent appearance on the From The Point podcast, Ball said he felt bad for the Bulls as they had built the "perfect team" around him before he went down with injury.
With the NBA season around two months away, Ball's name popped up on First Take as the panel discussed his podcast appearance. "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," lamented Stephen A. Smith. While it seemed like a sincere expression of solidarity with Ball, it was not received as such by the injured player. And so Ball took to social media to clap back at the veteran broadcaster.
Balls Tells Smith To "Stop Yapping"
"Who are your sources, bro? Please, tell me who your sources are," Ball began his response video, in which he could be seen doing one-leg squats with his injured leg. "Come on man. Come on, man. You got to stop yapping," Ball continued. "And I actually like you, man! I don't know you like that but I like you! I'm coming back, man. Come on!" More than anything, the post appears to be more for Ball than Smith. It's proof that he's not the injured husk that he has been portrayed as by the media. He is recovering, and he will be back. However, he's also not the only one calling out Smith this week.
After it was reported that Stefon Diggs had missed the first day of the Bills' mandatory minicamp, Smith claimed he had sources saying that the wide receiver wanted out of Buffalo. Later that same day, Diggs vehemently rejected any notion that he didn't want to be in Buffalo. "100% not true. I don’t know who the source 😒 is but I thought i nip this shit in the bud already. Rocking wit my dawgs… Bills mafia ❤️💙 through and through !!!," Diggs said in a pair of tweets. Looks like Smith and his team might need to vet their info a little better.
[via]