The NBA could be in for monumental changes as LeBron James approaches his 38th birthday and sounds like a player frustrated enough to contemplate retirement.
But as James sounds like a player contemplating retirement, Skip Bayless more shockingly sounds like an analyst contemplating his relationship with the soon-to-be all-time scoring leader in the NBA. While the league will certainly miss James whenever he decides to retire, the more seismic shift in the NBA might occur if Bayless ever decides to stop mindlessly railing on him.
Bayless has long been established as the foremost hater of LeBron James. And while many of us grew tired of his schtick years ago, it sounds like Skip’s day of reckoning may be near. Thursday morning on Undisputed, Bayless opened the show by shockingly admitting he too is growing tired of his LeBron schtick.
LeBron says "I'm a winner and want to win" after scoring 27 points in a Lakers loss to the Heat
"This is unbecoming of LeBron. LeBron is better than this." — @RealSkipBayless pic.twitter.com/AvAjKrBmr1
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) December 29, 2022
“I’m a little worn out of beating up on LeBron, and I don’t really want to do it right now,” Bayless said before he proceeded to beat up on LeBron for his postgame comments Wednesday night. After losing to the Miami Heat, James expressed frustration over the current state of the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Playing basketball at this level just to be playing basketball is not in my DNA. It’s not in my DNA anymore,” James said. “I think about how much longer I’m going to play the game. I think about that I don’t want to finish my career playing at this level from a team aspect.”
Despite being worn, Bayless managed to find it in his heart to criticize LeBron for deflecting blame, claiming it was “unbecoming” of the Lakers’ superstar to express shame over their continued losing.
Maybe it’s just not as fun for Bayless to criticize LeBron as he morphs into an easier target. And although LeBron is still great, he is certainly an easier target for criticism at 38 years old than he was a decade ago. Bayless is no longer the contrarian by beating up on LeBron. And if Bayless can’t be a contrarian by criticizing LeBron, then what’s the point of criticizing him at all?
