![\"LaMelo](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271388177-e1776322301109.jpg\")
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LaMelo Ball #1 of the Charlotte Hornets walks off the court after defeating the Miami Heat during their game at Spectrum Center on April 14, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina. <\/p>\n
FS1 analyst Nick Wright had harsh words for LaMelo Ball after the Charlotte Hornets<\/a> star tripped Bam Adebayo during his team\u2019s play-in victory over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n \u201cThat young man is a clown, and has been a clown forever, and will never not be a clown,\u201d Wright said on \u201cFirst Things First\u201d<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n When he received pushback from co-host Chris Broussard, Wright doubled down on his take, attacking Ball for being immature.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what he will be down the road,\u201d Wright said of Ball.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I do know is that the way he conducts himself on the court and it would appear off the court is that of an immature, coddled teenager. And I\u2019m not sorry and I don\u2019t care if this gets clipped.\u201d<\/p>\n Ball Family Fires Back<\/p>\n Wright\u2019s comments did get \u201cclipped\u201d and went viral on Wednesday, prompting strong reactions from LaVar Ball, the father of the Hornets star.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got these folks over here who aren\u2019t commenting on the game but talking about somebody being a clown,\u201d LaVar said via IG.<\/p>\n \u201cHas Nick Wright ever looked in the mirror? I bet you if you look in the dictionary right now and look up \u2018clown,\u2019 you\u2019re going to see two things. One, it\u2019s going to be somebody with some long hair on the sides and a big nose. Yep, that\u2019s Nick Wright\u2014a clown in itself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been a clown ever since I knew him,\u201d LaVar continued. \u201cAnd I know his tag team buddy too, Gritlock. He looks like a clown too\u2014puffy cheeks, a big round nose, and a big belly to match. Yes, I\u2019m calling them all out. They\u2019re all clowns. So don\u2019t ever curl your lips and say a Ball boy\u2019s a clown, because you know you a clown.\u201d<\/p>\n NBA Won\u2019t Suspend LaMelo Ball<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Lonzo Ball sent out a series of messages on X directed at Wright.<\/p>\n Folks saying clown wit a perm FOH<\/p>\n Dip the truth on my momma \ud83e\udd1e\ud83c\udffc<\/p>\n Niggas be running they mouth and never touched a rock<\/p>\n Nick Wright responded to Lonzo by doubling down on his earlier take.<\/p>\n \u201cListen, I think the last time I went scorched earth on a guy was Pat Bev years ago\u2026 but after LaMelo intentionally injures Bam & plays one of the most erratic elimination games we\u2019ve ever seen, in the same season he\u2019s been a menace on the streets of Charlotte, if calling him a is too far, I don\u2019t know what to tell you,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n Listen, I think the last time I went scorched earth on a guy was Pat Bev years ago\u2026 but after LaMelo intentionally injures Bam & plays one of the most erratic elimination games we\u2019ve ever seen, in the same season he\u2019s been a menace on the streets of Charlotte, if calling him a<\/p>\n The NBA<\/a> on Wednesday fined Ball $35,000 for \u201cmaking unnecessary and reckless contact\u201d with Bam Adebayo during Tuesday\u2019s play-in contest. Many analysts felt that Ball should have been suspended for at least one game for his actions.<\/p>\n Ball revealed Tuesday that he apologized to Adebayo on two seperate occasions.<\/p>\n \u201cI apologize on that one,\u201d he said of the trip, via ESPN.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI got hit in the head [on the play] and didn\u2019t really know where I was. But I\u2019m going to check on him, see if he\u2019s OK and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hornets will face the Orlando Magic<\/a> Friday night in the final game of the play-in. The winner will go on to face the Detroit Pistons<\/a> in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Hornets\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty LaMelo Ball #1 of the Charlotte Hornets walks off the court after defeating the Miami Heat during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[7,684,473,3878,685,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-711633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-charlotte","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-charlottehornets","12":"tag-hornets","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116413475192627916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}