Lonzo punked: ‘Weak-ass motherf*****’

Beverley, the Clippers point guard, had been tweeting about shutting down the No. 2 pick over a month ago. Beverley was outside the Lakers locker room screaming curses at Ball.

“Weak-ass motherf*****. Bring his ass out on the court with me and I will tear his ass up,” Beverley shouted, according to The Undefeated.

And that’s exactly what happened in the Clippers’ 108-92 win, with Ball limited to three points, nine rebounds and four assists on 1/6 shooting.

“I told him, due to all the riffraff his dad brings, he’s going to get a lot of people coming at him and he has to be ready for that,” Beverley told Sports Illustrated. “He has to perform on a stage like this every night. It’s not only going to be me. It’s going to be a lot of people trying to go at his head.”

Beverley, who was traded from the Rockets to the Clippers this off-season, is an extreme and in a way could not have been a worse matchup for Ball in his debut.

He played in Ukraine, Greece and Russia before sticking with the Rockets in 2013 and becoming one of the top defensive guards in the league. Beverley lives with the chip on his shoulder and thrives on it.

But he will not be alone in his determination to shut up Lonzo’s father, LaVar, even as Lonzo has quietly impressed teammates with his mild manner.

“Right now he’s got a lot of pressure on him — he’s got a lot of added pressure from his Dad continuing to praise him and talking about what he’s going to be able to do,” Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen said.

“He’s really just put a target on his back. A lot of players are seeing that and reading it. It’s not fair for him as a player because its unwanted attention.

“He’d just want to go out and play basketball, learn the game, develop and get better. But the players around the league are not going to allow that to happen as long as his Dad is standing on the sideline praising him and putting him ahead of almost every guy in the game in terms of his talent. He has to sit back, his father, and allow his son to develop as a player.”

LaVar, as if to prove Beverley and Pippen’s point, was there mid-court after the game being interviewed by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.

“Yeah, you shut the mothers***** down,” LaVar said. “And your check still ain’t going to go no higher than what it is. Yeah, you shut him down. OK … Who is Patrick Beverley?

“He played all last year and nobody said nothing about him. Now we are looking at your first game. Why? Because Lonzo’s name is attached to it … So you got to be (all hard). Let’s see what you do the next five games, if you are going to be pumped up towards everybody like that and go back to your 0/5 shooting and your two or three rebounds. Nobody is going to care about you. But you put my son’s name in it and you put my name in it, now you got some action and you got some people talking.”

LaVar should worry less about Beverley’s intensity, which will remain intact for all 82 Clippers games, and that of Lonzo’s matchup night in and night out.

But Lonzo said he understands the challenge and is ready to embrace it.

“I’ll be ready,” Ball told The Vertical. “I have to show it in my game, because when we win, people won’t talk. But if we lose, people will think it affects me. It’s wins and losses for me. We know it’s a process.”