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“LeBron James doesn’t deserve to win MVP this year”: Skip Bayless rips on Lakers star for not playing up to the mark in Anthony Davis’s absence

Samir Mehdi
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“LeBron James doesn’t deserve to win MVP this year”: Skip Bayless rips on Lakers star for not playing up to the mark in Anthony Davis’s absence

Skip Bayless took to Undisputed to say that he believes LeBron James shouldn’t win the 2021 MVP as he hasn’t played well without AD. 

With Joel Embiid sustaining a left leg bone bruise that will likely keep him out of commission for about a month, the 2021 MVP race has been blown wide open.

Embiid was given a slight edge over LeBron James going into the All-Star break as he had been averaging 30 and 12 while leading the Sixers to the number 1 seed out East. Fast-forward to today and it’s anybody’s award at this point. 

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Talks about the MVP have ramped up in the past 24 hours as Kyle Kuzma came out with a statement claiming everybody knows LeBron James should’ve won at least 8 MVPs in his career.

This led to Skip Bayless taking to Twitter to air out his thoughts on the statement made by Kuzma and LeBron’s MVP campaign this season. 

Skip Bayless says that LeBron James doesn’t deserve to win the 2021 MVP

Skip Bayless discusses his thoughts on the legitimacy of LeBron James’s MVP campaign with Shannon Sharpe on their show Undisputed, where he says that he does not believe the ‘King’ deserves to win it this season.

He does reiterate that he was lobbying for Bron to win it last season in place of Giannis Antetokounmpo:

“I said it last year LeBron should have won the MVP over Giannis. But I do not think he deserves this year’s MVP so far. He did not rise and shine without AD.”

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His reasoning for not wanting to crown James with his 5th regular season MVP is that he believes the Lakers superstar hasn’t been delivering MVP-esque performances in Anthony Davis’s absence.

This however is not quite true as, though his numbers have taken a dip, he is having one of his best defensive seasons of his career, all while being the offensive engine that keep the Lakers afloat. 

A stain on his MVP case would be the fact that the Lakers haven’t been able to string together a bevy of wins during this time period. This factor seems to have already been taken into account by the NBA as James falls to number 4 in this week’s MVP leaderboard. 

About the author

Samir Mehdi

Samir Mehdi

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Samir Mehdi is a senior strategist for the NBA division at The Sportsrush. Ever since he was 13 years old, he’s been obsessed with the game of basketball. From watching Kobe Bryant’s highlights on YouTube to now, analyzing and breaking down every single game on League Pass, Samir’s passion for the game is unwavering. He's a complete basketball junkie who not only breaks down current games but also keenly watches ones from the 60s’ and 70s’ while also reading comprehensive books on the history of the league. Samir’s life revolves around basketball and he hopes that shows in his work. Aside from work, he loves to spend time in the gym and with his friends at social gatherings.

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