LaMelo Ball was asked to address his incident in which he was retroactively fined and issued a flagrant-2 foul for tripping Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo early in the Hornets’ 127-126 overtime Play-In Tournament win on Tuesday.
Ball said that he waited outside the visitors’ locker room for Adebayo to apologize for the incident. However, Adebayo was in the shower, and Ball understood that the Heat center might not want to talk to anyone after his team was eliminated.
“I tried to apologize and everything,” Ball told reporters before Friday’s Play-In game against the Orlando Magic. “To look out for Bam, mainly to make sure he’s ok. We don’t want nobody hurt in this league ever. As long as he’s good, that helps my mind a little.”
Ball swiped at Adebayo’s foot as he was falling, causing him to fall on his back and leave the game injured. No foul was called on the play at the time, flagrant or otherwise, and no in-game review was possible because play continued after the possession.
After the loss, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said that Ball should have been ejected. Ball made the game-winning layup to end Miami’s season and send Charlotte to Friday’s Play-In elimination game against the Orlando Magic.
On Thursday, Adebayo said he had yet to receive an apology from Ball.
“It didn’t happen,” Adebayo said about talking with Ball after Tuesday’s game. “By that time, I was in the shower trying to figure out what I was going to do next. Obviously, everything happened all at once, and I wanted to be out there. At some point, I’ll see him again, and we’ll have that conversation, and we’ll move on.”
Spoelstra told reporters Thursday that he “didn’t think that (Ball) needed to be penalized more moving forward.”
On Friday, Ball was asked about fans who suggested he committed dirty play and what that might say about him.
“I mean, it’s all basketball,” Ball said. “I feel like Bam knows we never had nothing going on. I never really had anything with anybody.”