Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Lessons from loss to Washington Wizards

John Wall had a “MESSAGE” for Lonzo Ball…

We’ve already seen the footage of the foul, but let’s see it again…

If you ask John Wall did he foul Lonzo, he will say yes. Sure it’s obvious that there was a foul here, but we need to take this deeper.

Let’s skip the fact that the referees did not call a foul on this (That subject has a place all by itself…stay tuned!). Let’s take a look at the intent.

John Wall came out on a mission to embarrass and destroy Lonzo Ball. When the game was being played out, my interest went from why the Lakers were playing so bad to…

What in the world is up with Wall?

John Wall scored 40 points, dished out 14 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds. It was his night as he played 42 minutes and shredded up the Lakers defense. But’s let’s be clear here, this is all about what Lonzo’s dad, LaVar said last year a couple of days before the two players squared up last year…

After all of the social media comments predicting the Lakers and Lonzo Ball would get slayed, the Lakers behind Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Let’s keep him in mind!) won the game 102-99. John Wall had a rough night shooting only 7-22 from the field.

Let’s go back a few more months when LaVar Ball boldly stated that Lonzo Ball would be better than Steph Curry. Yeah, THAT Steph Curry!

"“Hey, let me tell you this right now. I have the utmost confidence in what my boy is doing. I’m gonna tell you right now, he better than Steph Curry to me… Put Steph Curry on UCLA’s team right now and put my boy on Golden State and watch what happens… Like I said, if I don’t know what my boy is about, I’m not going to make that statement. Steph’s going to have problems trying to guard my boy. Play 1-on-1!”"

Now let’s take a listen to what John Wall had to say…

Notice this is Kentucky Sports Radio here that you clicked on. If you guessed John Wall is out of the University of Kentucky…two points for you!

Now back to the game. John Wall had all of this in mind when he played on Sunday. It seems that Lonzo Ball is still having to deal with the past comments of his father. This is totally unfair to Lonzo but it is what it is.

After Lonzo Ball blocked this shot in the photographer’s row…

Wall became almost obsessed after he thought he was fouled. See the connection to the “attempted” block above?

To all the Lakers fans that believes that Lonzo Ball should be traded out of L.A. and bring John Wall is totally missing the big picture here.

Number one, John Wall is basically un-tradeable with that contract that the other 29 teams in the NBA will not even consider. More importantly…

Number two, is this the guy that you want in a locker room with young guys trying to build a winning culture?

When James Harden scored 50 points on the Lakers earlier in the week, it was very different from what John Wall did in this game. Harden HAD to keep scoring  because the game was close in the 4th quarter and no one else scored very well for the Houston Rockets.

Wall wanted to score his 40 points to make a point. The game was basically over by halftime…

Plus he had a TON of help. Jeff Green, Bradley Beal and Sam Dekker all scored more than 20 points. The Lakers made a small run in the last frame, but there was no doubt.

John Wall left the game after he scored his 40. It was classless and petty. Watch a few more Wizards games if you have time. You’ll understand. If a player of John Wall’s standards have to amp his level of play up to go against a second year player while his team is multiple games under .500, it shows the level of character.

Message to Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka…If the Wizards offer up John Wall…run!!!!!

Let’s talk about the best Lakers player on the court Sunday night…