Ivica Zubac on his relationship with Larry Nance, Jr. remains everything

Ivica Zubac is, by all definitions of the word, adorable. When he speaks, one can’t help but smile at the playful grin on his face as he essentially rips teammates limb from limb. Sorry, Larry Nance, Jr. This round goes to Zu.

Zubac sat down with Mike Trudell of Lakers dot com (who was wearing a “Zupac” shirt, by the way) to talk about his rookie season and plenty of other stuff, but it became obvious pretty quickly which subject he was most interested in covering.

Trudell asked Zubac about Nance seeing himself more as a father figure and less a brother for Zubac, to which Zubac did not hold back. Like at all.

“A lot of things come out of his mouth, so I wouldn’t really take that seriously. I don’t take that seriously. So everything time he says that, I punch him in the face. I kick his ass in one-on-one, so nobody should take that seriously.

Okay fine. Brothers will be brothers and smack will be talked. How ‘bout those nicknames, though?

“I don’t like his nicknames at all. My favorite nickname is Zublocka and that’s the one he didn’t give me.”

Oh.

Then, when Trudell gave Zubac the opportunity to walk these things back, Zu instead poked Trudell a little about a tape that may or may not exist in which Zudacris beat Nance one-on-one. We need to see that tape.

When a fan asked about a potential collaborative album between the two of them, Zubac said his people are talking to Nance’s, but that Nance’s frugality has been an issue. Come on, Larry. The world needs this at such a dark and trying time.

All this was obviously tongue-in-cheek and it’s cool to see a little bromance amidst the dumpster fire that has been this Lakers season. But I cannot stress this enough: Yo, Mike. You have to release that one-on-one tape. Them’s the rules.