Today’s day and age, guys grew up playing with one another. It’s competitive, but I think it’s a different type, different level of competitiveness. “Not as much as it used to be back in the day. “You don’t really get too much these days,” Paul George told me. “Some guys are pretty sensitive, but they don’t take that personal, fortunately.” “You can get hurt, but you don’t take it personal,” Klay Thompson said. Today’s player doesn’t necessarily take the art of trash talk as seriously as their predecessors, like KG. The A-plot, though, is still what happens beneath the rims. It’s like the B-plot in a Game of Thrones episode, the secondary storyline that runs parallel to all the really important stuff. They have refined the form into online gold, crafting characters for themselves that fans maybe can’t relate to but certainly can aspire to. Lonzo and Kuz have just put their own, unique spin on the game. The art of throwing shade in the modern NBA has elevated to the level of sport, thanks to social media. The jokes aren’t old-school trash talk-curses and insults whispered during timeouts-but something else-subtler, more public and curated with the express purpose of entertaining the fans. The tone of the insults are good-natured, though still fierce. While some may think the slights perpetrated by Zo and Kuz are part of an escalating war, a riff between budding stars, a closer read points to the blossoming of the NBA’s next great dynamic duo. “Boi got on a fake chinchilla (with pink silk on the inside) that’s bound to jump off his back at any moment along wit a turtleneck, BI’s Slenderman jeans, and some 9-5 boots…#IveSeenItAll,” Lonzo said. (“Have y’all seen a 20 year old wear toddler shoes?”) And Zo followed up with a clapback of his own, viciously deconstructing Kuz’s postgame attire-a fox-fur coat with pink lining. The jokes escalated as the month progressed. He then zooms in and out to ensure that the viewer, even if not bothered by Lonzo’s fashion choice, at least gets seasick. Kuzma unveils the offending garment like a horror movie-swift and shocking, for maximum effect. The cameraman, Kuzma, snatches the hat, revealing a black do-rag. Lonzo is sitting alone in his Big Baller Brand hat, the brim over his eyes. Vote down the smack talk that wasn’t even offensive. If you’re Kevin Garnett you can pick up your Trash Master trophy at the Ranker offices.The video begins with a candid moment of downtime on the team plane. Vote up the NBA trash talk that went hardest in the paint. The late '80s and early '90s were the heyday of NBA trash talk, and while it seemed like talking smack was a dying art form as the 21st century began to rear its ugly head, players like Kevin Garnett and Russell Westbrook are making sure the not-so-subtle art of trash talk stays alive. There’s no normal NBA player trash talk some guys go straight for the jugular and insult everything from a player’s mother to his wife, while other players are content to focus on someone’s looks and lack of skills to pay the bills. Some players who lived through funny basketball trash talk were able to dust themselves off and keep playing without missing a step. Others were never the same again after getting burned. Some harsh NBA trash talk is funny, some of it confusing, and a lot of it straight up mean, meant to throw opponents off their game. If you’re gonna trash talk, you’ve not only gotta be able to back it up, you also have your own style. Trash talk in the NBA is something of an art.
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