Why Lonzo Ball won’t put Kobe Bryant in his NBA Mount Rushmore

Black Mamba Blasphemy.

Lonzo Ball gave Angel Reese his NBA Mount Rushmore during a recent appearance on her “Unapologetically Angel” podcast, and KB24 didn’t make the cut.

“If you had to pick a top four — no order,” Reese probed the 27-year-old Bulls guard.

“Lebron, Jordan,” Ball began. “I’m going Shaq, [too], because he’s the most dominant ever.”

“And then fourth, I’m going — we just had this debate — I would go Magic, but I’m … it’s looking like Curry might have to find his way in there, honestly.”

“Why Curry?” Reese asked. “Not Kobe?”

Ball struggled to find the words: “Just because of … he’s doing it in a way that … I love Kobe but he was never the best player to me … just because he got the most misses ever, you know what I’m saying? I don’t know.”

It’s the second most heinous thing to come out of a Balls’ mouth this month, never mind the fact that LeBron actually outranks Kobe on the most-misses-ever list — 14,628 to 14,481.

“But back to Curry,” Ball said to Reese. “His resume and the way he changed the game, he’s the best shooter ever. [He] carried USA like, [there] ain’t nothing that he ain’t did. And he got the rings to back it up, too.”

In Ball’s defense, there are only wrong answers to the question of who the greatest basketball players of all time are. 

Every GOAT-assesser is going to have his or her detractors, and Ball’s came out in full force in the comment section of a clip the “Unapologetically Angel” podcast shared via Instagram.

“Perfect example of Telling me your age without telling me your age!” wrote one user.

“Bro wanna be hated by half of nba fans,” opined another.

“Mad Lakers traded him so he talkin’ bad ‘bout Kobe,” chimed a third.

Ball, the second overall pick by Los Angeles in 2017, played two seasons with the franchise before he was sent to New Orleans in a three-team deal in July 2019.

He played the best season of his career in his second with the Pelicans, 2020-21, averaging 14.6 points per game.

The point guard was shipped to Chicago at the end of that season, where he struggled to stay on the court.

Ball didn’t play in either 2022-23 or 2023-24 because of a meniscus injury, and because of wrist injuries he’s appeared in just four games so far through the 2024-25 season.