As the clock ticked down towards their 10th loss on the season, frustrations began to rear up late in the Lakers game against Phoenix at the Staples Center on Friday night, November 17. But while both benches cleared onto the court when at the 3:17 mark tensions peaked between Tyler Ulis and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lonzo Ball was spotted drifting away, as though he didn't want any part of the melee.
“It’s the NBA. People ain’t gonna really fight, so I ain’t trying to get no tech,” Ball gave as an excuse for his diva-like behavior, according to NBA insiders, Eric Pinkus.
The incident went down as L.A. trailed 116-107 late in the 4th quarter. Shortly after a whistle was blown by the officials, Ulis accidentally came face to face with Caldwell-Pope and before fans knew it they were tangled in a physical dispute. Ulis had up until that point, already played the best game of his young season. The Sun's point guard scored 15 and had 7 assists.
Meanwhile, Lonzo was once more a disappointment, with 6-points on 3 out 7 shooting from the field, with no three-point buckets and no field goals made by him on the night. What's more, he was again upstaged by fellow rookie teammate Kyle Kuzma, who put up 30 points and 10 rebounds.
