*Stephen A. Smith clapped back at Lonzo Ball during an episode of ESPN’s First Take, during which he continued to question the severity of Ball’s knee injury.
Smith responded to a viral video where Ball responded to Smith’s comment that he was having difficulty standing up out of a chair.
“Sitting poolside on the bench, getting up on one knee, you think that shows that you’re healthy?” Smith said of a video Ball posted Tuesday on Twitter, which shows him doing weight exercises on his left knee by the pool.
Since joining the Chicago Bulls in 2021, Ball has played in 35 games, Yahoo reports. A persistent knee injury has sidelined the 25-year-old guard since then, and he is not expected to return for the upcoming season.
“You really going to sit poolside on the bench and think because you getting up and sitting down… that makes you healthy? … Bro, you ain’t healthy.”
Stephen A. Smith claps back at Lonzo Ball and Twitter trolls on First Take ????pic.twitter.com/VYdc9Aui6i
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 23, 2023
Bell posted a video on Tuesday of him standing on his left leg and sitting down in response to Smith, questioning his ability to recover from an injury sustained in a previous game.
“Stephen A., who are your sources, bro? Please tell me who your sources are,” Ball said. “C’mon, man. C’mon, man. You gotta stop yapping. And I actually like you, man. I don’t even know you like that. But I like you! I’m coming back, man, c’mon!”
Ball posted the video in response to Smith’s recent comments on ESPN’s “First Take.”
The Bulls announced in March that Ball would undergo a third knee procedure in 14 months after tearing his meniscus in January 2022.
“Something went wrong in terms of these procedures that he’s had. I don’t think he’ll ever be the same based off what we’re seeing and hearing and reading about. I’ve heard that it’s even hard for him to get up from a seated position,” Smith said.
“You’re going to call me yapping when I have all this information in front of me… Would like me to tell where you had surgery and exactly what dates you had surgery on? Would you like me to get the names of the doctors?” Smith said Wednesday, New York Post reports.
“I do have them. I know the actual doctors that operated on him.”
In the end, Smith declined to share the information because “I would never do something like that, that’s none of my business,” he said.
“I’m gonna be nice because I got love for you bro,” Smith continued. “I want you to get back healthy.
WATCH:
@stephenasmith come to the actual source next time. I’m not hard to reach pic.twitter.com/88xyoB7LTf
— Lonzo Ball (@ZO2_) August 22, 2023
READ MORE: Stephen A. Smith on Athletes who Try to Get Black Journalists Fired over Tough Questions
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