Gilbert Arenas and Skip Bayless have been trading shots over the last few weeks. The drama between these two personalities is about the culture of criticism in the NBA and Bayless’ disdain for LeBron James. The media veteran is infamous for some of his takes against the Lakers superstar.
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In the grand scheme of the GOAT debate, Bayless always pulls for Michael Jordan who faces the strongest competition from LeBron. Bayless, like Stephen A. Smith, believes that MJ is the undisputed GOAT of basketball. The difference is, that Stephen A. isn’t always as dismissive of LeBron’s ability as an athlete.
A few days ago, Bayless addressed these allegations and tried to defend himself from being labeled as a LeBron hater. He said, “Back in my days when I did columns for the Chicago Tribune, my sports editor would have loved it if I had criticized Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Because my sports editor welcomed against-the-grain commentary, especially against any Chicago icon.”
Bayless took it a step further and claimed, “I wouldn’t have gotten fired for criticizing Jordan, I’d have gotten a raise.” This was the last straw for Gil. He couldn’t take it anymore. Wearing his MJ 23 jersey on stream, he stood up from his chair to call out Bayless. Arenas said, “Cap. Why the f*ck are you lying, Skip?”
Arenas had some receipts to back his claims, unlike Skip. He referred to the infamous Sports Illustrated magazine cover from March 14th, 1994. At the time, Jordan had taken a break from basketball to pursue his baseball dreams. But it wasn’t going as planned for the NBA legend.
Criticizing MJ’s time in the minor leagues with the White Sox, author Steve Wulf wrote, “Bag It, Michael! Jordan and the White Sox are embarrassing baseball.” Wulf’s editorial headline read, “Err Jordan.” But it was the cover picture that made the most noise where MJ could be seen missing the ball by a huge margin.
— Madelyn Burke (@MadelynBurke) May 11, 2020
Gil reminded Skip that Wulf has been asking for forgiveness from MJ for his criticism despite being fired by SI.
“Jordan got so mad that he decided he’d never do another interview with Sports Illustrated ever. And Wulf got fired,” he reminded Bayless. “Skip, Wulf has been begging Michael Jordan for his forgiveness longer than you’ve been hating on LeBron James.”
In 2001, while writing for ESPN, Wulf revealed that he wrote an apology for MJ in SI, but they never published it. Gil checked Bayless for lying about what he would’ve said against Jordan if he wasn’t the greatest in his eyes.
The three-time All-Star claimed that the only reason he didn’t say a word against him was because he couldn’t. “You couldn’t say sh*t. Stop it. ‘Cause if you could, you would’ve,” Arenas said after mocking Bayless for being a liar.
