WATCH: Lonzo Ball tells Stephen A. Smith to ‘stop yapping’ and challenges him to cite his sources

Lonzo Ball has endured a tough couple of years, ever since he first suffered from his lingering knee injuring that has kept him on the sidelines for quite some time now. As he’s finally expected to return this upcoming campaign, he isn’t going to put up with criticism about his slow recovery.

This Tuesday, the Chicago guard posted a video of himself standing and sitting down on his left leg several times to prove to Stephen A. Smith that his sources are lying to him, as he recently said on air that the player was having trouble when standing up from a seated position.

In the video, the young star questioned the famous reporter, and even challenged him to cite his sources. Take a look at the 25-year-old’s post in the following link:

Lonzo Ball calls out Stephen A. Smith for reporting that he has issues sitting pic.twitter.com/GtAwR0zPOT

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 22, 2023

“Stephen A., who are your sources, bro? Please tell me who your sources are,” Ball said as he repeatedly lifts himself from his chair and sat back down with ease. “C’mon, man. C’mon, man. You gotta stop yapping. And I actually like you, man. I don’t even know you like that. But I like you! I’m coming back, man, c’mon!”

Smith had appeared on his own show “First Take” on ESPN this week and was worried about the guard’s recovery.

“Something went wrong in terms of these procedures that he’s had. I don’t think he’ll ever be the same based off what we’re seeing and hearing and reading about,” he said. “I’ve heard that it’s even hard for him to get up from a seated position.”

After Lonzo’s video post, Smith responded almost immediately with a post of his own. “Happy to do so, Lonzo,” he wrote. “Nice to know you’d finally like me to reach out. Not a problem. You know how to reach me, too. I’m here.”

Ball recently said how much he appreciated the Bulls management for building a team around him

Five months ago, the Chicago medical staff announced that Ball would undergo a third knee procedure in 14 months after he first tore his meniscus in January 2022. As he missed all of last season, he can’t help but feel in debt with the Bulls organization for having so much faith in him.

“It’s gonna be a big ‘what if.’ I mean, for me, I feel bad, especially for the GM. I feel like they made the perfect team around me, and I felt like I was involved. It was the most I’ve ever been involved in an organization. I finally got the perfect team that I felt fit my game and played my way,” he said in an interview with Hawks star Trae Young.

“Everything is going well,” said Bulls VP Arturas Karnisovas about his recovery. “Going into the offseason, I think our expectation is that he’s not coming back next season and he’s going to continue on his recovery.

“If he comes back, it would be great but we’re just going to treat this offseason and getting ready for the season that he’s not going to be back. … I hope eventually we’re going to see him on a basketball court. But I do not think he’s going to be back next year.”

Lonzo was averaging 13.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and a career-high 1.8 steals as Chicago’s starting point guard before falling to injury.