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Report: Lakers ask Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma to dial back social media insults

2017 Las Vegas Summer League - Brooklyn Nets v Los Angeles Lakers

LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 15: Kyle Kuzma #0 and Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers walk off the court after the team’s 115-106 win over the Brooklyn Nets during the 2017 Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 15, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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If you’re Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka, or anyone else in the Lakers front office, and you’re trying to recruit the biggest free agents on the market this summer — LeBron James, Paul George, etc. — part of your pitch is that these young Lakers core guys are mature enough to make big leaps with their game next season and turn this into a playoff team (or more).

So the dis track Lonzo Ball dropped on Kyle Kuzma this week was not a help. That followed a season of social media shots at each other — playful shots, the pair remains friends — but the intensity was increasing.

The Lakers told the two it was time to back off, reports Ramona Shelburne and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

The Los Angeles Lakers have spoken to Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma about toning down their social media roasting of each other following a rap diss track that Ball released on Kuzma this week....

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. 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.


Young adults often don’t know where the line is on these kinds of things, and they cross it more easily. Wise move by the Lakers to step in now.

Especially if they want to go big game hunting this summer in free agency.