事件的開端-LaVar Ball開炮Luke Walton
Lonzo Ball的老爸LaVar Ball高調且常有驚世駭俗的言論並非一天兩天的事情了，然而球爸近日接受ESPN記者Jeff Goodman訪問時批評目前湖人隊主教練Luke Walton已經失去對球隊控制乙事，卻引發Rick Carlisle對ESPN的大肆批評。
Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
“You can see they’re not playing for Luke no more,” Ball said of Walton, during a game that was broadcast at 5 a.m. local time in Birstonas, Lithuania. “Luke doesn’t have control of the team no more. They don’t want to play for him.”
“That’s a good team [the Lakers]. Nobody wants to play for him. I can see it. No high-fives when they come out of the game. People don’t know why they’re in the game,” the bombastic father continued. “He’s too young. He’s too young. … He ain’t connecting with them anymore. You can look at every player, he’s not connecting with not one player.”
LaVar Ball在訪談中提及湖人球員已經不想為Luke打球，並且已經無法掌握整支球隊的方向。LaVar Ball認為湖人是隻好球隊，但沒有人想替Luke打球。他可以觀察到球員們下場後沒有相互擊掌等互動，而球員也不知道自己在場上的定位。Luke太年輕了，他沒有好好的讓自己與球員間有足夠的連繫，你可以觀察每一個球員，就可以知道Luke和他們每個球員之間都連繫的不夠緊密。
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後續發展-Rick Carlisle參戰
而我們將時間快轉到今天小牛(獨行俠)對陣尼克的賽前訪問，Rick Carlisle除了是小牛隊主教練以外，他同時也是NBA教練協會的主席，他因此大肆砲轟ESPN的訪問。
“As president of the coaches association, I view the recent ESPN article as a disgrace, quite honestly,” Carlisle said prior to Dallas’s game against the Knicks. “Luke Walton is a terrific, young coach who is bringing along a young team, and it’s a difficult task. If you don’t believe it, just ask me. We’re going through that now and went through that last year.”
Rick Carlisle提及：「身為NBA教練協會的主席，我必須極其老實的認為ESPN應該替近期的那篇文章感到羞愧 。Luke Walton是一名優秀且年輕的教練，他目前正在帶領一支年輕的隊伍，而這是一個非常困難的任務，如果你不相信，你可以來詢問我的看法，正巧過去一年來到目前為止我也處於同樣的狀況下。
“ESPN is a partner, an NBA partner and they’ve been a great one,” Carlisle added. “But part of that partnership is that…the coaches do a lot of things to help them with access, interviews, all those kinds of things. And in exchange for that, they should back up the coaches. Printing an article where the father of an NBA player has an opinion that is printed as anything legitimate erodes trust.”