While Nick Wright has garnered both praise and criticism for his hot takes, his recent one involving Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball , in which he described him as a "clown," hasn't won him many friends.
One former NBA player who certainly didn't appreciate Wright's words was Raymond Felton , who said that, as a father, he could understand why LaVar Ball felt compelled to respond to the scathing criticism of his son.
First things first, it has been established that Ball was wrong to grab Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo's foot, which caused him to tumble and suffer an injury that prevented him from finishing the Play-In game on Tuesday. In fact, upon further review, the guard was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and fined a hefty $35,000 for the unsportsmanlike act.
"LaMelo was wrong for that. Shouldn't have grabbed that man's ankles. Unfortunately, Bam got hurt and he got fined. I told y'all he wasn't going to get suspended; he got fined. So, we all sit here and agree with each other that he was wrong for what he did," Felton said on "To The Baha."
However, Wright took things a step further, labeling Ball with the "clown" tag — something Felton strongly opposed.
"So, as a father, I'm like f—k you, how dare you talk about my son? When I see you I'm gonna slap the s—t out of you, that's the father in me," Felton passionately said. "Now, me, if I'm in the league I'm telling my dad, don't worry about it I'm going to address it, I got it, I'm going to say something to him."
As a member of the media, Felton now understands the need for outrageous statements to generate attention. However, there's a fine line between an outrageous take and a personal attack. In this case, he felt that Wright crossed that line.
"When people go at people character, like if you want to talk about somebody's game as an analyst or whatever you call yourself, then you do that," he explained. "But what people don't understand is when you make stuff personal and now when you make it personal, but if I see you out on the streets, you going to run to the cops."
This is the part, though, that Felton feels is unfair. Talking heads are free to malign a person's character on air. Yet, when they get confronted about it, they immediately try to hide behind the letter of the law — something that Felton implied as cowardly.
"Let's be honest. You going to try to sue me if I slap the s—t out of you. But you just came at me personally, though? So when I see you, if I react to you coming at me personally, being physical with you, then you going to run and call the cops. He going to call the cops and you going to jail straight up. Because he going to press charges," Felton added.
Wright has since backed down on his previous statement, saying he would be more than happy to replace "clown" with " wildly immature man-child ."
Related: "Nick Wright a bum" - Lonzo Ball goes off on Nick Wright for calling LaMelo a clown
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Apr 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
