Ziaire Williams approached Austin Reaves from behind during his walk-off interview with NBA on Prime, put his hands on his shoulders and yelled, “Fifty ball.”
There was one problem.
It was Luka Dončić who had scored 53 points in the Lakers’ 124-118 win over the Trail Blazers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“I’m the wrong white person,” Reaves, who had 25 points, retorted as he shook his head in disbelief.
Did Williams seriously confuse his two teammates?
“Deadass,” Williams said, flashing a smile in the Lakers’ locker room.
Dončić had some lighthearted fun with the mixup as well.
“That was very disrespectful to me,” Doncic said jokingly.
It was a funny moment following an impressive come-from-behind win for the Lakers, in which they turned a 16-point deficit into a 16-point lead.
In Friday’s game, Dončić (361 points) passed Michael Jordan (347) for the most points scored in the first nine games of season since the NBA-ABA merger.
It’s the most points anyone has scored in the modern NBA since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63.
It was Dončić’s 11th career 50-point game. He surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and tied Allan Iverson for 10th most 50-point games in NBA history.
Dončić is averaging an NBA-leading 40.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.6 assists for the Lakers, who are in first place in the Western Conference with an 8-2 record.
