The Los Angeles Lakers’ youngsters have a pretty close relationship with one another. This includes a 2017-18 rookie class consisting of Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart.
Like most young adults their age, said relationship includes continual ribbing of one another. It’ no different than when we were in our late teens and early 20s. But with the advent of social media, this trio has taken it to an entirely new level.
The latest example of this is a diss track released by Ball on Monday titled Kylie Kuzma, which made fun of Kuzma not having a relationship with his biological father.
Apparently, that’s enough for the Lakers’ brass. According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Ohm Youngmisuk, the team sat down with both young players to tell them to cool it with the barbs.
“Sources said the team spoke to both players and that there are no lingering issues and that both players agreed to tone down the joking insults on social media,” the two reported. “After dealing with a social media fiasco involving the D’Angelo Russell-Nick Young video in 2016, the Lakers wanted to make sure to nip things in the bud before the potential of anything escalating.”
This came at the same time Kuzma’s mother posted a tweet regarding the situation on Wednesday.
Everyone’s had their fun now get back to work.
— Karri Kuzma (@KarriKuzma) June 13, 2018
Good natured ribbing can quickly escalate to a point where one side is offended and a relationship is impacted. It appears that Ball might have come close to crossing that line on Monday.
For the Lakers, this makes perfect sense. Ball and Kuzma are close friends. They’re considered two key cogs in the team’s rebuild efforts. Why not nip it in the bud before things get out of hand?