One division rival is kicking the Los Angeles Lakers while they are down.
The Lakers suffered one of their worst losses of the season on Wednesday against the depleted Portland Trail Blazers, losing 107-105. After the game, some Lakers fans had a discussion on the team in a Twitter Spaces session. Twitter Spaces is a live audio chat room that anybody can listen in on (the hosts of each individual Space have the ability to choose who can speak).
Phoenix Suns guard Cam Payne joined the Twitter Space that the Lakers fans had created and proceeded to dis the Lakers.
“We’re the No. 1 team in the world,” said Payne of his Suns. “And you’re worried about the f–king Lakers. They’re the worst team in the West.”
Payne quickly changed his tune though when the host of the Space told him that the conversation was being recorded. Payne then went on to say, “We respect the Lakers. We respect every team in the NBA.”
Here is the video (but beware of the foul language). You can see Payne’s Twitter icon and his verified checkmark in the upper-right corner.
On Thursday, Payne appeared to respond to the viral clip and tweeted a message suggesting that he had been taken out of context.
In any event, it is clear that Payne is not fond of the Lakers, calling them the worst team in the West despite the fact that there are still six teams worse than the Lakers in the conference. There is some history here, as Payne had an incident with LeBron James during a Lakers-Suns game earlier this year. It is also possible that Payne was not pleased to hear the recent report that the Lakers supposedly think that they can handle the Suns in the playoffs.
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