Lonzo Ball will finally get the chance to backup his father’s words against the Wizards on Wednesday night. (Kelvin Kuo/Associated Press)
That the Wizards will face LaVar Ball and the Lonzo Balls only twice this season is probably good for your sanity, but probably bad for our Web traffic. That both meetings arrive within the season’s first 11 games is probably bad for your sanity, but probably good for our Web traffic. And that Marcin Gortat is now involved in the Ball family story line is certainly good for both your sanity and our Web traffic.
After helping ratchet up the attention for Wednesday night’s game with a few harmless words on Twitter, Gortat has been asked multiple times this week for his further thoughts on the Ball family. His comments have been tame and reasonable, and yet his on-camera words to NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller will likely attract a bit of attention.
Gortat, to start, didn’t seem willing to grant “genius” status to LaVar Ball’s months-long publicity blitz.
“To be honest with you, I don’t see anything genius about that,” Gortat said. “You know, the same-case scenario could be I could go to the media and say that I’m much better than Shaquille O’Neal, or I could punk Hakeem Olajuwon under the basket. I mean, [am I] gonna look genius? No, I’m gonna look like a moron. So bottom line is I don’t think that’s genius what he’s doing.”
[John Wall wants more respect. Paul Pierce is here to help.]
The Gortat-Ball backstory began when the elder Ball said after a Lakers loss that the Wizards “better beware, ’cause Lonzo ain’t losing again” this week, and golly, that this “story” has a “backstory” is almost too sad for words.
Anyhow, Gortat tweeted in response to Ball’s comments, “man….. pleaseeeeee!!! @JohnWall will torture him for 48min,” along with some emoji, indicating great humor and amusement. That earned Gortat headlines from ESPN to TMZ.