Bulls guard Lonzo Ball claps back at ESPN’s Stephen A Smith

If you’ve been following the Chicago Bulls for some time now, you’re probably used to ESPN and other national media outlets taking low-blow shots at our favorite franchise by now. Whether they’re placing the Bulls low in power rankings, or discrediting Chicago’s stars in tier lists, we’ve seen it all.

What I didn’t expect to see, however, was ESPN’s own Stephen A. Smith inventing fraudulent insider information to perpetuate myths surrounding Lonzo Ball. After various knee surgeries and treatments, the former second-overall pick just can’t catch a break (other than the literal kind). Here’s what Stephen A. Smith had to say about the Bulls point guard on First Take.

“Lonzo has proven to be a really good NBA player, somebody who can run the point, plays both sides of the ball, run an offense, and it’s really sad what happened to him. Those are doctors, something went wrong in terms of these procedures he’s had. 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,” Smith said, before elaborating that he believes the Bulls would be in a much better position as contenders if they had a player like Lonzo on the floor.

Bulls guard Lonzo Ball had some choice words for ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith following bold claims about his injury status.

It wouldn’t take long for Lonzo to respond to these wild claims, however, as he’d directly address Stephen A. in less than 24 hours. Ball clearly wanted to get in front of this story and was not willing to address Smith’s hysteria.

“Come to the actual source next time. I’m not hard to reach,” said Ball in a video posted online. “Who are your sources bro? Please tell me who your sources are. Come on man, come on man, you gotta stop yapping. I actually like you man, I don’t even know you like that, but I like you. I’m coming back man, come on!”

What’s most interesting of all is how Ball delivered his message while doing one-legged squats in and out of a chair, seemingly disproving Smith’s claims that he was experiencing pain just sitting up. Of course, it’s impossible to say if Lonzo was just masking the pain for a solid viral moment. Either way, I’m not so sure we should take Lonzo’s claims of an eventual return to heart, because his career eventually picking back up is still far from a sure thing.