When LeBron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record on Tuesday, many were wondering how Skip Bayless would take things. Although he has given James some praise in recent weeks leading up to the historic moment, it’s no secret that he enjoys criticizing the four-time champ.
While he didn’t bring any hot takes to the discussion surrounding his crowning achievement, he did have a problem with James’s acceptance speech. This led many fans to question just why does Bayless hate the superstar? While there’s no definitive answer, it seems as though the analyst’s hate is simply for entertainment.
Of course, the way he sees things, he doesn’t believe he hates James. In his mind, James lacks the clutch gene and the dominance of Michael Jordan. As a result, he doesn’t believe James deserves the title of greatest of all time. Late last year, he finally addressed the longstanding rumor that he hates LeBron James, saying:
“I hate to spoil this party, but I do not hate LeBron James. From the bottom of my heart, I don’t hate him. In fact, I hate the misconception that I hate LeBron James. I just tell the truth. … That often times nobody would tell.”
While he may maintain that he doesn’t hate LeBron James, some of his claims in the past seem to indicate the exact opposite.
Skip Bayless’ craziest LeBron James takes
Throughout his career, Bayless has repeatedly provided some of the craziest takes regarding James. While he may maintain that he doesn’t hate the four-time champ, some of his takes seem to indicate the exact opposite.
One of the craziest takes Skip has ever had on LeBron was that he wasn’t a first ballot Hall of Famer. The comments came during the 2012 season, when Bayless stated that he feels as though Tiago Splitter is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but LeBron isn’t.
LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers v Indiana Pacers)
As if saying LeBron isn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer wasn’t crazy enough, there was another claim Bayless made that stands out as one of the most ludicrous. Back in 2010, Bayless said that James’ skills line up with Batman, but his intangibles are closer to Robin. As a result, he believed James was more like Robin than Batman.
Of course, James doesn’t seem to be phased in the slightest by all of Bayless’ comments. Throughout his career, he has done an outstanding job of ignoring the nonsense spewed by the polarizing analyst.
After a reporter asked him about comments on one of Bayless’ outrageous takes, James responded without mentioning his biggest hater directly. With one of the coldest lines of his entire career, James said that anyone who had a problem with him offering advice to a young player like Zion can kiss his ass.
The way James has handled the years of criticism at the hands of Skip is impressive. While many individuals would grow tired of the incessant comments, ignoring Bayless has been a great move.
