Lonzo Ball suffered an ankle injury during the Lakers’ second preseason game on Monday evening against the Denver Nuggets. It ended up costing him the opportunity to play in Los Angeles’ third preseason game on Wednesday, and according to Ball, it could hold him out of Sunday’s matchup with the Sacramento Kings.
Ball met with the media on Friday and was reportedly hobbled, saying that his status against the Lakers’ divisional rivals is up in the air.
Lonzo Ball limped over to reporters on his sprained ankle, said it felt a little better but wasn't sure he'd play Sunday vs. Kings.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) October 6, 2017
But while Ball said this, Twitter thinks it knows the real reason why he’s going to sit. Ball is the star rookie point guard in Los Angeles, but Sacramento has its own highly-regarded rookie in the backcourt in De’Aaron Fox. So once the news came out that Ball might sit, plenty of people took the time to push this conspiracy theory.
Incoming "Lonzo dodging Fox" tweets
— 𝕁𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕒𝕟 🪐 (@LakerrJC) October 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/KeithJouganatos/status/916400619472142337
https://twitter.com/coyote95667/status/916401371846283266
https://twitter.com/Hicks89Jay/status/916406085271003136
https://twitter.com/LuTzzSS/status/916401002386931712
Lonzo Ball is fearless* and is a competitor at the highest level.
*Unless De'Aaron Fox is playing.
— Michael Swander (@MichaelSwander) October 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/chardzard818/status/916426511900598273
oh cmon now Ball, are you really dodging fox now? This is now #2 … smh https://t.co/IfDBtGRGoz
— 𝖄𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖛𝕾𝖆𝖛 (@YOUNGSAVx) October 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/JPaulYall/status/916409970115141632
There is something of a history between these two. The pair squared off against one another in college twice when Ball was at UCLA and Fox was at Kentucky. Ball won the first matchup, but when the team met up in the NCAA Tournament, Fox came out on top. Both times, Fox outplayed Ball, especially in the Sweet 16 matchup between the two, as Fox threw down a career-high 39 points on the eventual No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 draft.
Fox seemed to enjoy going right at Ball whenever the opportunity presented itself, and when you mix that with Ball’s underwhelming performance — 10 points and eight assists on 4-for-10 shooting — it was an unceremonious end to his collegiate career.
Then, during the Summer League matchup with between the Lakers and Kings, Ball sat out with a sore groin. Again, the conspiracy theory was that he was trying to avoid Fox, and the Kings guard seemed like he thought this was intentional.
This is silly, sure, and there’s no way that Ball is trying to avoid Fox. Then again, if it’s 2024 and Ball has misses his 100th consecutive matchup against Fox and the Kings, we should probably start asking some questions.
