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Skip Bayless Calls Out LeBron James’ Tactics To Bury Underwhelming 2025 Playoffs
Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Skip Bayless is commonly known as the greatest detractor that LeBron James has had in his NBA career. The former Fox Sports and ESPN personality has spent nearly the last two decades piling on James’ career. His agenda of putting James down has led to nearly all of his audience tuning out over the years. But that hasn’t stopped Bayless from continuing his tirade against the Lakers star even as an independent creator.

Bayless went on his YouTube show on Monday to provide some key context about the Lakers’ playoff failure. According to him, the whole of the NBA media landscape has played a part in papering over the Lakers’ playoff failure. He pointed out how LeBron James and co were heavily favored by oddsmakers and experts to win their first-round series, but little has been made of their playoff failure since their knockout:

This is what you should really, really remember. The Lakers were strongly favored to beat the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. Strongly favored. To hear the NBA media tell it now, this was some pathetic mismatch in favor of Minnesota. That’s the way it turned out. But that is not the way Vegas saw it going in. I mean, the Lakers were completely healthy. They did have homecourt advantage in this series, and they were strong favorites.

Bayless went on to use various stats that prove how LeBron James came up short in the first round loss. He cited how James went scoreless for nearly 27 straight fourth-quarter minutes in Games 3, 4 and 5. He also pointed out that the Lakers were tipped by the Vegas oddsmakers to take three out of five games before tip-off. Skip Bayless also pointed out how LeBron James messed up in the Lakers’ late Game 4 loss.

The 73-year-old then turned his attention to James’ latest antics, which spawned rumors about his possible Lakers exit:

I could be wrong, but I have NEVER once heard of you going back to Cleveland to train in any of your seven Laker summers. Not one time. I don’t remember any other pictures over the years of you training at the Cavs facility? Maybe I missed it. Maybe you did. Maybe just to remind the Lakers, you’re still in charge and you might just finish your career right back where it started?

How much truth is there to Skip Bayless’ latest takes on LeBron James?

When it comes to the facts, Skip Bayless doesn’t beat around the bush. He had an open layup in his attempts to put down LeBron James, and he put it away easily. James was indeed subpar for the closing stretches of all three of those games. However, it wasn’t solely the 40-year-old’s fault for not being able to turn up his intensity.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick made the decision to play his five most trusted guys for the final stretches of Games 4 and 5. None of these players got a break to sit and rest on the bench during the second halves of these games. Redick’s motivation is obvious on the surface, but it had second order effects that came back to bite the Lakers. Expecting a 40-year-old to sustain a high intensity on both ends with no rest was foolhardy.

Beyond that, LeBron James has always been known as someone to try and get his way with roster signings. The ‘LeGM’ narrative that has been built around him is not something conjured out of thin air. James has kept his previous teams Miami and Cleveland on their toes with his actions. It appears that he also wants to pressurize GM Rob Pelinka to get him more help, which is probably why he posted his picture with the ‘Coming Home’ hat.

Skip Bayless clearly isn’t someone to take at face value on most things. But on this topic, he’s got it spot on.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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