The beef between Skip Bayless and LeBron James has spanned decades. Bayless, a polarizing NBA analyst, has criticized The King at nearly every step of his career — and age hasn’t earned LeBron a pass. Even at 40, he’s still in Bayless’s crosshairs. Case in point: the Los Angeles Lakers’ shortcomings in the 2025 NBA Playoffs were pinned squarely on LeBron.
Advertisement
Heading into the postseason, many believed the Lakers — now with Luka Doncic in their side — had a real shot at making a deep run. Instead, they were bounced in the first round, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games.
On paper, LeBron had an outstanding series. He averaged 35.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game while shooting 48.9% from the field. But Skip Bayless urges fans not to be fooled by the numbers.
Bayless has long been one of the harshest critics of LeBron’s clutch gene, and he believes the 2025 playoffs marked one of the worst postseason performances of James’ career, despite what the numbers say. “Let’s get this completely straight for all you have closed your eyes,” Bayless said on The Skip Bayless Show. “The NBA’s all-time leading scorer went 27-straight minutes of the fourth quarter spamming games three, four and five without scoring a single point.”
To LeBron fans, it might have seemed like Bayless was simply hating on their superstar. But his argument was actually compelling. LeBron was virtually a non-factor in the fourth quarter of three out of the five games. In Game 4, he didn’t score a single point in the final 12 minutes, a stretch that allowed the Timberwolves to take a 3-1 lead in the series.
That’s never an ideal scenario when one of your top two players goes missing in the clutch. Of course, credit must be given to Minnesota’s defense. But James’ lack of late-game production placed an even heavier burden on Doncic, who ultimately couldn’t carry it alone.
Just like any other player, LeBron deserves to face pushback when he costs his team a chance to win according to Bayless. “LeBron James is the most overprotected superstar in sports history. He went from a top 10 player in the regular season to once again having no clutch gene in three straight winnable fourth quarters,” Bayless continued.
Despite being heavily favored entering the series, Minnesota’s size gave the Lakers serious problems. The trio of Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, and Jaden McDaniels put immense pressure on LA’s defense, turning the matchup into a much tougher challenge than both analysts and the Lakers themselves had anticipated.
Looking ahead to the 2025–26 season, the road won’t get any easier. The addition of Deandre Ayton brings some much-needed size in the paint, but the roster still has several glaring weaknesses. Hopefully, Lakers fans have tempered their expectations, because another deep playoff run seems unlikely.
