The Los Angeles Lakers are on fire lately, and it’s not surprising the mood has lifted around the team as Jordan Clarkson, Kyle Kuzma and the rest of the roster have won four games in a row and eight of their last 10.
Kuzma (nine points on 4-of-12 shooting) didn’t have his best game of the season in the Lakers’ 108-103 win over the Chicago Bulls, but the rookie leading the team in scoring is still a big enough presence that the media wanted to speak with him following the victory.
The wheels may have been put in motion when Kuzma wore a (fake) fur coat to the United Center. He is one of the many Lakers who can safely be deamed fashion-forward.
Just as Kuzma was ready to field questions from reporters, Clarkson gave his teammate a hard time for the lining of what’s now an infamous coat, via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN:
Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson and Lonzo Ball all wanted and made Kyle Kuzma do his interview with this coat on (Kuzma says it’s a PETA friendly jacket)… watch Clarkson come over… pic.twitter.com/ev5XkLaPbR
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) January 27, 2018
It’s hard to decide whether the best part of this is Clarkson’s obvious double entendres making Kuzma so uncomfortable that he nearly blushed as he practically begged Mike Trudell for a basketball-related question, or the fact that he seamlessly shifted into said basketball answer once the question was out and made it through the rest of the interview without issue. Veteran stuff from the rookie after an early stumble.
Clarkson wasn’t the only Lakers player to give Kuzma a hard time. Lonzo Ball was ready with a roast on Twitter, too:
HA ???? @kylekuzma pic.twitter.com/LLzcNsQBRZ
— Lonzo Ball (@ZO2_) January 27, 2018
And Kuzma quickly had a retort:
You just mad you can’t pull it off big bummy brand https://t.co/NTC3dHsT6i
— kuz (@kylekuzma) January 27, 2018
To which Ball responded:
Just make sure you’re Niked down to the soul every single time you step on the court lol might as well get a swoosh tatted on you… Put it by that emoji on yo chest ????
— Lonzo Ball (@ZO2_) January 27, 2018
The Lakers are clearly having a ball right now, and they should be. They’re rolling despite Ball’s absence and Kuzma hardly playing his best, among other adversity they’ve been forced to weather throughout the season.
In spite of all of those potential speedbumps, the Lakers have stuck together as a locker room and are clearly enjoying playing alongside each other, which is exactly the type of culture that president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka promised to build.
It’s a lot easier for that mindset to take shape while the team is winning, and the true test won’t come until the wins dry up for the Lakers. Until then, they’re just going to enjoy their success and keep roasting each other, in the locker room and on social media.
WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCUSSION? CHECK OUT THE NEW LAKERS NATION FORUM CLUB