In this day and age, almost everything we used to do in person can now be done virtually. For Phoenix Suns guard Cameron Payne, that includes putting the Los Angeles Lakers franchise in a body bag, which he did so for the first time online last night as opposed to on the court.
In a Twitter spaces titled “Late Night Lake Show”, Payne hopped up as a speaker and put the Lakers in their place, which one listener recorded.
“We’re the number one team in the world, and you’re worried about the *expletive* Lakers.” Payne said. “They the worst team in the West.”
Once one fellow speaker mentioned that the spaces were being recorded and asked if Payne was worried about LeBron James and other members of the Lakers organization hearing him, he simply said, “That’s fine, they can hear it bro. That’s cool bro. We respect the Lakers, we respect every team in the NBA.”
This was not the first time Payne has beefed with the Lakers, as he and James got into something of a “discussion” during a game earlier this year. As the Suns began to build up their lead over Los Angeles, James alleged shouted at Payne to “stay humble” from the bench before referencing Payne’s time formerly spent out of the league. Phoenix went on to win that contest by a 115-105 score.
But last night’s words from Payne came on the heels of a far more embarrassing loss for the Lakers, as they dropped one to a heavily depleted Portland Trail Blazers team, putting themselves now four games under the .500 mark. The team’s effort even left Lakers legend Magic Johnson literally speechless after the contest.
After the @Lakers loss to Portland tonight, I'm speechless. No words can describe how I'm feeling.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) February 10, 2022
This morning Payne did reference his dig at Los Angeles, mentioning that perhaps there was more to the story than what the few recordings online depicted. But regardless, his initial words certainly ring true, as the Lakers continue to plummet into levels even below the standard of mediocrity, while the Suns keep soaring.
Lol why y’all didn’t play the whole recording though….
— Cameron Payne (@campayne) February 10, 2022
At this point, Payne remains unavailable for the Suns as he nurses a wrist injury. While the Suns recently saw several key players return from injury, Payne unfortunately still stands as a lone exception in that right, likely to miss his 14th game of the season tonight vs the Milwaukee Bucks.
For the sake of both entertainment and the Suns’ winning chances, one can only hope that he returns for Phoenix’s next game against the Lakers. He does have some time to heal up though, as the two rivals plan to next face off a little over a month from now, with their game scheduled at the Footprint Center on March 13th.