Skip Bayless wants LeBron James to know he’s got his back, after Draymond Green mildly criticized the Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar.
After the Lakers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves during Tuesday night’s play-in game, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green spoke about the result on his podcast. There, the new media advocate criticized LeBron for looking tired.
“He looked gassed at times, I was very shocked at that,” Green said. “You never gotta question whether Bron is in shape or not, but he did look a little tired.”
LeBron looked a little tired because the 38-year-old playing in his 20th NBA season probably was a little tired after logging 45 minutes on the court. Despite Green’s criticism being much ado about nothing, Fox Sports’ Bayless took issue with the slight, believing the Warriors forward crossed a line by speaking out on LeBron.
Yes, the same Skip Bayless who has made a TV career out of criticizing LeBron James, did not like Draymond Green saying he looked tired.
.@RealSkipBayless defends LeBron after Draymond's recent critique of him in Play-In Game: pic.twitter.com/vwGdt4bGxE
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) April 13, 2023
“Draymond likes to talk about how he is now the new media. Well, whether you’re the new or the old, you’re still qualifying yourself as a media member because you’re doing a podcast regularly,” Bayless said Thursday on Undisputed. “It still comes across as being critical of a man that you’re business partners with on Uninterrupted, you are a Klutch client, so you’re also within the confines of his agency. I gotta tell you, it’s offensive to me, that’s stepping out of bounds.”
The biggest criticism the concept of the “new media” has received is whether or not players with shows and podcasts will be able to offer unbiased opinions toward their contemporaries. Green steps out and offers an unbiased criticism of LeBron James, and Skip Bayless is offended by that?
“For the sake of selling your podcast, there are certain rules and regulations that you’re still going to have to live by where there are going to be boundaries and I think you stepped across a boundary here,” Bayless complained. “You’re trying to sell your podcast, I got it, we all try to do the same thing. But my point is, it felt out of bounds to me, because LeBron does not deserve that from Draymond.”
The sports media world is official in a strange place when LeBron James can turn to none other than Skip Bayless for support. Bayless can slander, insult and mock LeBron as “Queen James,” but Green saying James looked “tired” is crossing a boundary on journalistic integrity?
Maybe Bayless feels there’s only room for one LeBron-hater in this world. The person who cornered the market on being a LeBron-hater years ago, Bayless has recently showed a more sympathetic side. But perhaps he’s gearing up to pile on the Lakers star once they’re eliminated from the playoffs.
