Hunter LaVine didn’t let a viral hot-mic moment slide quietly.
After a clip from the Kings’ annual media day on Monday, Sept. 28, spread online, Zach LaVine’s wife reacted on Instagram to the chatter surrounding her husband and Kings guard Ben Simmons. The video, captured during the event ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season, showed a group of female reporters talking about both players off the record - or at least they thought they were.
The Simmons portion of the conversation helped fuel the clip’s rapid rise online. One reporter called his career “cringe, cringe,” while another said he’s “lucky he’s so fine.”
Then the focus shifted to LaVine, and the comments got even more pointed. One woman called him “hella fine,” but another said his personality was the problem.
“I think his personality annoys the [expletive] out of me, so that’s what makes him less fine,” she said. “Zach’s cute but his personality [expletive] annoys me.
He just seems like hella like a (expletive). But he is beautiful.”
Hunter LaVine appeared to fire back at the reporters with a post on Instagram, writing, “a great start to the season!”
She had already shared the clip to her Instagram story on Monday, pairing it with a string of laughing emojis, which suggested she was taking the moment in stride even while making her point.
The reporters in the clip have not been identified, though social media has speculated that one of them is Sara Hodges. Whatever the names behind the voices, the video has turned into an awkward early storyline for Sacramento as opening night approaches in mid-October.
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It was an awkward moment for a group that is trying to introduce Simmons after signing him to a one-year deal and continue integrating LaVine, who arrived in February 2025. The incident also lands in the shadow of a similar hot-mic episode involving Raptors reporters, a comparison Sacramento would rather avoid as it tries to keep the focus on basketball instead of the noise around it. [Read more 🡒]
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Media day is usually one of the calmer stops on the NBA calendar, a chance for teams to set the tone before the season begins. For the Kings, it turned into something else entirely when a leaked audio recording reportedly caught reporter Sara Hodges making disparaging remarks about Ben Simmons and Zach LaVine, a clip that quickly spread across social media and turned a routine event into a talking point far beyond the room.
The reaction has been immediate, with fans piling on and former NBA player Royce White also weighing in as the audio circulated. What has kept the story simmering, though, is the silence from both the Kings and Hodges, leaving plenty of questions about whether the episode will fade as another online flare-up or lead to something more concrete from the organization. [Read more 🡒]