LeBron James Ripped by Skip Bayless in 'First Take' Return, Says Lakers Star Begs for Foul Calls
Making his return to ESPN's First Take on Friday for the first time in 10 years, Skip Bayless played the proverbial hits by criticizing Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
During a discussion with Stephen A. Smith about the Lakers falling behind 2-0 in their second-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder following a 125-107 loss in Game 2 on Thursday, Bayless took a shot at James for appealing to the officials for foul calls.
"Now to LeBron James. He is starting to beg for every call even worse than Luka [Dončić] begs for every call and non-call, and it's just driving me crazy," Bayless said. "It gets hard to watch. I don't miss Luka because I don't miss all the whining and begging. But now he's got [head coach] JJ [Redick] begging for him. And here's the truth about LeBron James. Again, we're talking about age 41, year 23 LeBron. He's lost some of the respect of the referees because he does miss quite a few bunnies at the rim that he used to convert. He does not finish the way he used to finish.
"[Thunder star] Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finishes like crazy at the rim, and he does get the respect of the whistle. So, I just don't want to hear this about how, oh, poor King is not getting the foul calls at age 41, and has got the worst whistle that JJ's ever heard a superstar have. What happened last night was the Lakers came out and wanted to play football and they played football in the first half, and it was an extremely physical game. And the Thunder said, okay, we'll play football in the second half. And now LeBron's saying, 'Oh, they're banging me.' Everybody was getting banged because it was an extremely football-ish basketball game last night."
Bayless referenced comments made by Redick after Game 2, including Redick telling reporters that "LeBron has the worst whistle of any star player I've ever seen."
While James declined to make any comments about the officiating, Redick wasn't shy, adding, "I mean, they have a few guys that foul on every possession. ... They're hard enough to play. They're hard enough to play, you've got to be able to just call them if they foul, and they do foul."
The Lakers got off to a solid start in Game 2, leading by one point at halftime, but the Thunder broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring L.A. by a 36-22 margin.
OKC attempted 26 free throws to the Lakers' 21 in Game 2, but James only got to the charity stripe four times, compared to nine trips for SGA.
The Lakers have been without Dončić for their entire playoff run thus far, and it remains unclear if or when he will be able to return.
That has placed a greater burden on the shoulders of James, who often took a backseat to Dončić during the regular season in terms of leading the offense.
While LeBron was able to lead the Lakers past the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, the reigning NBA champion Thunder have proved to be a much greater challenge.
As for Bayless, he has long been known as one of James' most vocal critics, even when James was winning championships earlier in his career with the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Bayless starred on First Take from 2007 until his departure from ESPN in 2016, and he continued the sports debate show concept on FS1 with Undisputed from 2016 until 2024.
Smith brought Bayless back for a guest appearance on First Take on Friday, but if the episode is ultimately deemed to be a success, it is fair to wonder if Bayless could re-enter the fold on a more permanent basis.
If that happens, then viewers can likely expect more of the same from Bayless as it relates to LeBron.
