Michael Jordan’s Former Teammate Gives ‘No Holds Barred’ Message to ‘Hater’ Skip Bayless For Questioning LeBron James’ Killer Instinct

Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless has often given evidence that he prefers Michael Jordan over LeBron James. Bayless has criticized James on countless occasions and hyped MJ probably just as many times. Back in 2022, Bayless had proclaimed on Undisputed that James lacked the killer instinct the likes of Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Magic Johnson possessed. The take seems to have offended LeBron’s former Cavaliers teammate, Brendan Haywood.

Haywood played alongside LeBron for 2 seasons and saw enough to know that Bayless’ comments were unfounded. The 71-year-old analyst is often criticized for his rough takes and generally loses no opportunity to criticize LeBron. Haywood became the latest to publicly disagree with Bayless, citing a particular incident and game-winner to prove his point in a Fubo Sports interview.

Shaq says “nobody was ever scared of LeBron”

“Shaq, the guy I rank 3rd-greatest of all time, epitomized my biggest issue with LeBron vs. Jordan in the GOAT debate.” — @RealSkipBayless pic.twitter.com/5uLQFkN5W1

— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) April 15, 2022

Brendan Haywood lashes out at Skip Bayless’ LeBron James take

Bayless had said that LeBron had no standing in the GOAT debate because he lacked the killer instinct possessed by some of the other contenders. Bayless named the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson to illustrate his point.

However, Haywood cited a game-winner against Jimmy Butler, back in the 2014-15 season. The Bulls boasted of the likes of Butler, Pau Gasol and Derrick Rose, but it was LeBron who got the last laugh. He drew up his own game-winner, and went against his coach in the process:

“Playing with him in Cleveland showed me that all that nonsense Skip Bayless keeps talking about, shut your old a** up. Do you remember the shot that LeBron hit against Jimmy Butler in Chicago to three in the corner? LeBron had actually been playing terribly down the stretch of the game. And we get to the huddle, David Blatt draws up a play and says, JR you get here and get the shot. I’ve never seen this he said, absolutely not, grabs the clipboard, erases the play, and starts to formulate his own play.”

LeBron James: All-time great. But no MJ. No Kobe. No real killer instinct. No clutch gene. No late-game free-throw maker.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) February 13, 2020

It is clear that James is highly regarded by most of his teammates. Bayless has often come under fire for his disrespectful takes on the LA Lakers’ star. Haywood, who had first-hand experience of how clutch LeBron could be in his prime, had a very different take.

Skip Bayless has been criticizing LeBron for years

Bayless’ often rowdy takes on James has led to a plethora of criticism. However, that has not stopped him from criticizing the 4-time Champions repeatedly.

Additionally, the analyst was accused in August 2022 of hating on Bronny James. LeBron had responded to a clip of a Bronny dunk by Uninterrupted. Bayless commented on the same post, claiming that Bronny got away with a right-handed dunk.

Posters run in the fam

ESPN pic.twitter.com/73ZdiVMhw4

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) August 15, 2022

Bayless said that LeBron would have been able to dunk the shot left-handed. His less than enthusiastic take for a player who is still a few seasons away from the NBA ended up being utterly ridiculed, according to Newsweek.