Lonzo Ball Discusses Walking Away from Scuffle in Loss vs. Suns

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Tyler Ulis were involved in a brief scuffle during the fourth quarter of the Phoenix Suns' 122-113 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night at Staples Center, but the focus after the game wasn't on their heated exchange.

Rather, the spotlight shone on Lonzo Ball—who was seen walking away from the altercation without interceding. 

After the loss, Ball explained why he didn't try to jump into the fracas. 

"It's the NBA," he said, according to Southern California News Group's Bill Oram. "People ain't really gonna fight, so I ain't trying to get no tech."

Lakers forward Brandon Ingram sided with Ball, telling reporters the skirmish was "all false action."

Truth be told, Ball and the Lakers have bigger things to worry about. 

The Purple and Gold have lost five of their last six games after starting the season an encouraging 5-5, and they rank 28th in the NBA with an offensive rating of 97.7 points per 100 possessions. 

That inefficiency has been fueled by three-point shooting struggles and turnover woes—the Lakers rank dead last in both categories—and it hasn't helped that Ball has failed to find his footing as a scorer. 

Through 16 games, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft is averaging 8.8 points per game on 30.8 percent shooting from the field and 22.7 percent shooting from deep. 

He's also one of four players, along with Ingram, who has accounted for negative offensive win shares (minus-0.9) to this point in the season (minimum 500 minutes played). 

Ball, who hasn't scored in double figures in his past three games, will try to build some positive momentum Sunday when the Denver Nuggets make a trip to Hollywood. 

Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com.