Giannis Antetokounmpo steps in to assist Lakers after game ball drama - ESPN

MILWAUKEE — With the Los Angeles Lakers leading by as many as 31 points in Saturday's 119-95 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks, the only drama of the evening came after the final buzzer, when Lakers players tried to secure the game ball to present to their rookie teammate after he scored his first NBA points.

After Lakers rookie Adou Thiero scored four points, including a raucous dunk in the final minute, Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt held on to the game ball when the game ended and held it under his left arm as he exchanged postgame pleasantries with several Bucks players.

Before Vanderbilt could take the ball back to the locker room, however, crew chief Pat Fraher approached Vanderbilt, took the ball away from him and then walked the ball to center court to present it to a Bucks team attendant.

«I went to grab the ball,» Vanderbilt said. «The rookie scored his first points. That's what happens in the league.»

Fraher told the Lakers players that the ball belonged to the Bucks.

«He said it's not my ball to give away, which was like… I've never heard that,» Lakers guard Austin Reaves said.

Vanderbilt said the referee told him he planned to discipline him for his actions.

"[Fraher] said he's going to write me up," Vanderbilt told ESPN. «I don't know what the hell he's talking about. These refs, they just want to have their power or something, I don't know. I don't know what he was reaching for. That's been a thing since way before I was in the league. What, was he going to take the ball home or something?»

Noticing the commotion at center court, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo intervened by taking the ball from the team attendant and handing it to Lakers star Luka Doncic.

«That shows a lot of class,» Reaves said of