Paul Pierce dropped a LeBron James hot take on FS1’s Undisputed, but it still wasn’t hot enough for Skip Bayless.
Monday morning wasn’t the first appearance on Undisputed for Pierce, but it was his first appearance since being announced as a regular contributor to the show. And Monday night, Bayless attempted to promote Pierce’s appearance by tweeting out a hot take that the former Boston Celtics star dropped on Undisputed 12 hours earlier.
Paul Pierce made a powerful point today on Undisputed. He said LeBron is now more of a ball hog stat machine who doesn’t get teammates involved enough, making them uncomfortable to shoot w/o 2nd guessing. That, said Paul, is the biggest reason the Lakers are 10th. Truth.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) March 19, 2024
“Paul Pierce made a powerful point today on Undisputed,” Bayless wrote. “He said LeBron is now more of a ball hog stat machine who doesn’t get teammates involved enough, making them uncomfortable to shoot w/o 2nd guessing. That, said Paul, is the biggest reason the Lakers are 10th. Truth.”
There is no love lost between Pierce and LeBron. They were rivals on the court and Pierce previously lamented having to cover LeBron when he was working at ESPN. But ripping him as a “ball hog stat machine” who makes his teammates “uncomfortable” is still pretty harsh. One problem, Pierce didn’t say that.
During the episode of Undisputed that Bayless was referring to in his tweet, Pierce complained about the media coverage LeBron still receives, claiming younger stars like “Zion Williams” [sic] should be getting more attention. That might be a bigger criticism of Bayless than it is LeBron. But here Pierce’s actual quote about LeBron.
“Yes, LeBron’s been great numbers-wise, but he’s got to take a step back.”
@paulpierce34 on the Lakers loss to the Warriors pic.twitter.com/MjX1vofvT7— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) March 18, 2024
“Lakers are gonna lose, LeBron’s gonna get 40, he’s great at getting his stats,” Pierce said. “But the truth of the matter, when I’ve been watching LeBron this year – yes LeBron’s been great numbers wise, but he’s gotta take a step back…he’s gotta give the ball up a bit more.”
From there, Bayless jumped to “ball hog stat machine” who makes his teammates “uncomfortable.” If a blog or website made the same leap with Pierce’s quote, they would be ripped for taking something out of context, sensationalizing the headline, or being another example of the “lazy” aggregate media. All criticisms that are regularly fended off even when the aggregate media does a much better job of sticking to actual quotes than Bayless did Monday night.
Undisputed’s ratings are floundering, and the show is in desperate need of an influx of juice. Maybe the addition of Paul Pierce will help. But sensationalizing Paul Pierce’s hot takes to drum up added intrigue probably won’t.
