Skip says James pretends to be injured to avoid media strong opposition to his early withdrawal from the playoffs

According to Sidant Gupta, senior contributor of US sports media F/W. Skip Bayless once again slammed James in a recent post for claiming the Lakers superstar pretended to be injured in order to avoid backlash from the media for losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.

Lakers forward James found himself on the chopping board again as Skip Baylis hit back at the Lakers star. In a recent post “The Skip Bayless Show,” Bailis claims James and Klutch Sports CEO Ritchie Paul fabricated a story involving injuries to protect James from strong media opposition. "In Los Angeles, LeBron's playoffs fell off again, basically without criticism, and then again found an excuse for himself. He and his inner circle did it again. Ritchie Paul is the best person ever to make excuses with members of the mainstream media. Congratulations on this coup you just finished, Ritchie Paul," the host continued, saying he laughed after reading ESPN's report on James' injury. He explained by this: "A long-time NBA coach I'm very familiar with immediately texting me shortly after this post, in which he said to me, 'You can't have a Level 2 medial collateral ligament sprain and come back to play." Bailis's statement was based on his source and to some extent, there was no further evidence to prove the matter. However, analysts continue to find ways to accuse James of every tiny move he made.

However, it cannot be ignored that the Lakers' first round of the playoffs and James' recent loss in the playoffs. Losing to Wolves put an end to a series of bad performances by the Lakers forward. With a 2-12 record in the past three seasons, it’s clear that James hasn’t enjoyed his early career playoff success. The failure of this season can be attributed to several things. But it is obvious that the problem is the composition of the Lakers' squad and their inability to execute when it matters most. The offseason has left the Lakers feeling a lot of concern about their future, especially in the case of James. Although the striker's initial response did not provide information on his status next season, it is widely believed that he could wait another season before playing with his son Bryce. In this case, the Purple and Gold Legion also needs to develop their lineup building strategy. As the team is built around Doncic, the Lakers are inevitably going to prepare for the future. However, James' contract became a huge factor in this case.

If James decides to choose to join his contract, he will have $52 million. This greatly reduces the Lakers' ceiling flexibility. Despite suggestions that James opted out of the contract and cut his salary, there was no indication of what the striker would do. Despite the disappointing ending performance of the season, the striker still scored some solid numbers, and the 21-time All-Star averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game in the 2024-25 season, still a model in the league. No matter what, James and the Lakers have experienced a failed season, let’s wait and see what the future will be!