Sports commentator Skip Bayless has made a living for years by taking shots at LeBron James. It seems as if no matter what James accomplishes, Bayless finds a way to downplay it in order to generate clicks and views for himself.
On Friday, James' Los Angeles Lakers powered past a very depleted New Orleans Pelicans team by a final score of 124-108, allowing them to hold on to third place in the Western Conference. James scored 27 points on 9-of-17 shooting and dished off eight assists, and 14 of his points came in the fourth quarter as the Lakers solidified their grip on the game.
Bayless seemed to allege that James was out to pad his scoring stats in this contest.
Just remember: LeBron played 33 minutes tonight vs Pelicans without their top 6 players. I guess he wanted to make his all-time scoring record a little more unbreakable. Add 27 more highly unimpressive points to his total.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) April 5, 2025
Los Angeles was playing the second game of a back-to-back set, so James could've simply sat out, and the team still would've likely found a way to win. But if he had done so, Bayless may have criticized him for doing that.
The Lakers, who have a 47-30 record, have a tough final five games of the regular season. They will hit the road to face the 64-13 Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday and Tuesday before playing the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. They will then host the second-place Houston Rockets on Friday before closing out their schedule versus the Portland Trail Blazers in Oregon next Sunday.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Skip Bayless implied that LeBron James padded his stats vs Pelicans
