“LeAnkle James decided to stay late in a meaningless game”: Skip Bayless hilariously blames LeBron James for injuring his own ankle in the Lakers win over the Pelicans

Skip Bayless puts the blame on LeBron James for injuring his own ankle late in the Lakers victory over the Zion-less Pelicans. 

The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves to be in unfamiliar territory this season as they currently hold the 7th seed out West and are gearing up to fight for a spot in the Playoffs. Devastating injuries that plagued the Lakers’ two superstars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, caused them to miss games which resulted in them sliding down the standings. 

One of the more persistent injuries throughout this regular season has been LeBron James’s right ankle. After having injured it during the Lakers game against the Hawks mid-March, James proceeded to miss a slew of important games for the Lakers. Upon returning against the Raptors and the Kings, it was clear that the ‘King’ was not at 100%, as highlighted by him.

Also read: “Michael Jordan didn’t draft me to develop me”: Kwame Brown surprisingly reveals the then-Wizards GM’s plans to trade him for Elton Brand

Despite the fate of their place in the standings when the regular season was done and dusted was in the hands of the Blazers, their bout against the shorthanded Pelicans on the last day of the season was a crucial one. LeBron James decided that he would indeed take to the floor to get his reps in and help his squad to a win. 

Skip Bayless says LeBron James is at fault for tweaking his ankle. 

As mentioned before, the reigning Finals MVP has been on and off the court for about 2 months now and so he believed it would be right to stay in the game to get acclimated in-game, in case of a play in scenario. This didn’t work out all too well in the moment however, as he seemed to tweak his ankle in the final 7 minutes of the game, much to Skip Bayless’s dismay.

Also read: “Kobe Bryant and the Hall of Fame Class of 2020 have 11 championships”: Stephen A Smith compellingly argues why last year’s Hall of Fame inductees are the greatest class of all time

Bayless believes that LeBron is undoubtedly at fault here for staying in the game late, when the Lakers were up big on the Pelican and it was clear the Pels weren’t all too enthused on generating a surge in clutch time. He also brings up a good point on how Bron didn’t take to the floor alongside Anthony Davis and Drummond in that timespan, rendering his time on the court, ‘useless’. 

Nevertheless, LeBron James eventually took to his postgame availability to claim that his ankle was more than fine and that he as good to go against Steph Curry and the Warriors. Considering how bad Steph Curry has been at Staples Center when playing the Lakers in recent memory, it will be interesting to see if ghosts of past days continue to haunt the reigning scoring champ.