Skip Bayless Mocks 'Thin-Skinned Diva' LeBron James For 'Manipulating Media' Into Retirement Talk
Certain sports teams are known for their favor with the sports media. One of the more shameful examples in recent decades has been the NBA media's love for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Nepotism reached an all-time high when self-proclaimed King, LeBron James, joined the Lakeshow in 2018.
This year, the LBJ-led Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in a disappointing Western Conference Playoffs series sweep, and the media completely buried the lede by shifting its focus on whether LeBron would retire.
Skip Bayless Calls Out LeBron's 'Media Manipulation'
To keep the focus off LA's dreadful performance against Denver, LeBron James teased potential retirement.
The NBA media gladly took the bait.
Calling out the insane treatment and "media manipulation" by LeBron James is FS1's Skip Bayless.
The partner-less Bayless went on a rant Sunday. He criticized LeBron James and the NBA media for keeping the focus away from the embarrassing sweep.
WATCH:
Bayless said, in part:
"I tried to tell you again and again and again about LeBron James since his rookie year in the NBA and my rookie year on national TV.
"Obviously an all-time great player, but also all-time great media and fan manipulator. He'll be so incredibly insecure, so thin-skinned, such a blame-deflecting diva, always trying to change the narrative of his failures and sometimes his epic failures."
The "Undisputed" host followed it up with a tweet to further roast the King:
"REMEMBER: The Lakers had 4 great chances to beat Denver in 4 straight 4th quarters - and lost all 4 because Le'GOAT' shot 7-23 in those 4th qs and 1-10 from 3 and failed to hit the rim with 2 late shots in Game 4. Just embarrassing. No closer, No MJ, No clutch gene."
NBA Media Bows To The King
Bayless called the retirement storyline "phony," just days after LeBron announced his decision to return for another season at the irrelevant ESPYs.
(Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
After all, how could LeBron suddenly exit the game without having the red carpet rolled out for him with a send-off season?
Leaving abruptly after an embarrassing playoff loss could only damage his legacy as the new generation's G.O.A.T. That didn't stop ESPN from launching segments and curious chyrons devoted to LBJ's retirement talk.
Coming into the playoffs, LeBron and the Lakers were pressured to make a deep run after missing the playoffs in the 2021-22 season with Frank Vogel as coach.
This year became the "year of LeBron" in the NBA as he chased Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 39-year scoring record. Even that game became a glaring example of nepotism. The media waltzed around LeBron reaching the scoring record against OKC but overlooked that the King took his foot off the gas after getting the scoring title in the third quarter. OKC ultimately won the historic game, 133-130.
Skip's known for his hot takes, but this was one of his rare truth bombs.