Donne’s tweet about Ball creates storm

Associated Press

uncasville, conn.

Elena Delle Donne is no stranger to the joys and hatred of social media.

The Washington Mystics star saw both sides of it Friday night. She was having a little fun watching Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball and his $495 shoe as Los Angeles played its first summer league game.

She tweeted out “How great would it be if [Lonzo Ball] blewout his shoe in his first summer league game? Should have gone with (at)Nike.”

Delle Donne, who has her own player exclusive shoe with Nike, had no idea what was coming over the next hour. Her tweet drew 2,000 likes and 800 retweets. It also had 459 comments, mostly negative.

“I was getting killed. Got to love it though,” she told The Associated Press on Saturday at the Mystics shootaround before their game against Connecticut. “It was a joke, I like to mess around, think of myself as a kind of funny person.

“All the hype around the BBBs. How many times have athletes blown out a shoe? A shoe? Not talking injury. People were taking it like I wanted him to get hurt. Are you kidding me? I want him to have a great future. It’s so funny. One joke and it’s like, phew. Guess he’s got a lot of fans already.”

Delle Donne is in her first season with Washington after spending four in Chicago. She has helped the Mystics to a 10-7 mark and was second in early All-Star voting last week just behind Maya Moore.

She’s been active on Twitter the last few years, constantly engaging with fans. In this case, she didn’t mind the good-natured response, but took exception when people were twisting her tweet and suggesting she wanted Ball to get hurt.