The Hornets managed to beat the Bulls 112-99 last night at the United Center in Chicago. LaMelo Ball and Nikola Vucevic got into a heated exchange at the end of the game when the Hornets star dunked the ball even after the game was essentially over.
Following the dunk, the two players had a serious conversation, which eventually escalated and needed to get officials and both teams involved to separate. Subsequently, the social media account “LegendZ” leaked footage claiming new details of the viral exchange between the players.
What LaMelo Ball Really Said To Nikola Vucevic👀:
Vuc: “You need to stop”
Melo: “Why are you so mad? I can shoot the ball, f*ck you mean?”
Vuc: “You need to stop with that”
Melo: “That n**** said I can’t shoot the ball, relax” pic.twitter.com/dOrXurq6GI
— LegendZ (@legendz_prod) January 4, 2026
Nikola Vucevic seemingly faked a throw of the basketball at LaMelo Ball in frustration over that dunk as the clock ran out. After the buzzer, Vucevic approached Ball and the Hornets’ bench to exchange a few words with the former All-Star.
“You need to stop, stop it, bro,” said Vucevic, who just a few days ago got into a similar argument with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“Why are you so mad? I’m telling you, I can shoot the ball, f**k you mean?” Ball reportedly responded.
“You need to stop with that,” said Vucevic in frustration.
“That n***a said I can’t shoot the ball, relax n***a,” Ball said as he got in the last word of the exchange before the players were fully separated.
The Bulls led the game until midway through the third quarter, after which the Hornets completed a comeback to steal the game away from them. Thus, Vucevic was bound to be frustrated with his team, which seems to have come out at Ball in that moment.
NBA fans saw this incident on social media and called out a pattern in the Bulls player’s behavior.
“Vuc is so f**kin soft 😭 N***a did the same thing to Giannis the other day.”
“Nikola Vucevic needs to start winning games 😂.”
“Vuc soft. Did it with Giannis and now Lamelo. If you don’t want that to happen, then play better and win the game😂.”
“You can tell, Vuc thinks he matters.”
“Let it fly, he’ll find something else to cry about either way.”
“This surly Vucevic stuff is what needs to stop… guy is a perennial loser on the bball court and can’t even smile at his own team mates.”
The Bulls center led all scorers in the game with 28 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists while shooting 11-of-15 from the floor (73.3%) and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc (75.0%).
Yet his efforts went in vain as the Bulls were severely short-handed, as Coby White and Josh Giddey were both sidelined, and they could not generate offense from anywhere else. The Bulls fell to 17-18 following this loss and will face the Celtics tomorrow (January 5).
Meanwhile, LaMelo Ball finished the game with 17 points, six rebounds, and seven assists while shooting 7-of-15 from the field (46.7%) and 3-of-8 from the three-point line (37.5%).
The Hornets have improved to 12-23 for the season and will face the Thunder in their next game, which is tomorrow as well.
