On Nov. 20, Kelly Iko of Yahoo! Sports reported that Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball had "grown increasingly frustrated with the organization" and that he was open to a trade. LaMelo responded to Iko's tweet on X about the report with a clown emoji. He later referred to the report as "false info." On Monday's episode of "The Kevin O'Connor Show," Iko said the guard's response was "understandable."
Iko added, "I've been in this game a long time. You understand. Star player is frustrated, report comes out, star player denies it. In the middle of the night, weeks down the line, months down the line, when he's traded, no one circles back to it.