LeBron James Is Playing So Well In Year 21 That Skip Bayless’ Facade Has Finally Started To Crack

Matt Fitzgerald·
CULTURE
·
Lebron James
TNT

There’s always hesitation to give Skip Bayless any play to begin with. The man is, in essence, a con artist who has rigged his way up to the highest level of sports commentary, which has devolved into a steamy pile of sh*tty hot takes and nonsense.

BUT. I’m of two minds of this. Because Skip has made a literal career out of criticizing LeBron James. When he was live tweeting during The King’s latest history-making flash of legendary basketball on Thursday eve, the shtick was alive and well:

Downplaying every dimension of an achievement, somehow suggesting that all the years LeBron made it to the NBA Finals and lost are worse than the many years when MJ straight-up failed to make it that far…calling the NBA In-Season Tournament “gimmicky”, saying he got lucky to face inferior competition…it was all there.

Then? Something happened on Friday when Skip woke up. An epiphany of sorts. Like maybe it’s somewhat impressive that LeBron is in YEAR TWENTY-ONE in the NBA and is the driving force behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ run to the NBA In-Season Tournament final!

LeBron turns 39 later this month. Tell me, Skip, are these numbers bad?

Crazy what can happen when LeBron is locked in, healthy and there’s something worth playing for (read: a $500K bonus) in the regular season.

I just love that it took Skip a full two decades to say one single positive thing about LeBron James. The hate in his heart is so vicious. He’s a sad, old man whose time is almost at an end. Imagine the toxicity that swirls around in Skip’s brain. The man is a fraud, knows it, and keeps doubling and tripling down like Jamal Adams when he tries to insult a reporter’s wife.

With the understanding that a lot of ex-athlete media types who condescend to sports media personalities with the platitude of, “YEAH BUT DID YOU PLAY IN THE LEEEEEEEEEAGUE THOUGH!?!?” are kind of the worst — a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of humans on planet Earth are good enough to play professional sports at a high-enough level to then command a media job afterwards — JJ Redick knows what greatness looks like firsthand. Let his words wash over you, anti-LeBron crowd, and deal with it:

…And Skip Bayless, YOU can deal with it, too. What JJ just put up in that small segment is more insightful, nuanced and enlightened than any BS Skip has spewed in his entire career.

I feel like Skip made the smallest concession, but if Tyrese Haliburton stays en fuego and the Pacers somehow knock off the Lakers to win the In-Season Tournament, the mental gymnastics Skip will have to do to clear himself from self-contradiction will be hilarious to once again behold. Not that I watch his show literally ever. The clips after the fact, I mean.

Like for instance, imagine if LeBron had lost at any other stage of the tournament. Skip would be all over him. BUT. When other teams featuring superstar/legitimately great players in their primes lose, LeBron is lucky that he doesn’t have to face them?

Why is Skip so lenient toward a generational talent like Zion Williamson, who’s healthy and in-shape for once in his life but gets blown off the court 133-89 by LeBron’s Lakers!?

Bottom line: Skip is a scumbag. I don’t take anything he says seriously. A charlatan in every way. Having said all that, I’ll take his one flicker/glimmer/shimmer of honesty about LeBron James, because believe it or not, it’s a genuine novelty item that actually makes sense.

Witness true greatness, and hold the decades-long “L”, Skip:

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