“LeBron James not playing against the Clippers has high embarrassment potential”: Skip Bayless predicts Paul George and co. will dismantle Lakers without the ‘King’

Skip Bayless takes to Twitter to say that LeBron James not playing against the Clippers has potential for becoming very embarrassing for him. 

With the NBA’s decision to introduce the play-in format this season, teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland TrailBlazers have an extra incentive to go all out in this final home stretch of games to claim a higher seed, so as to avoid the play-in tournament. Having both LeBron James and Anthony Davis back in late April allowed Laker fans to release a sigh of relief. 

However, with LeBron re-aggravating his right ankle soreness, he’s effectively been ruled out for the next two games. The purple and gold brigade were set to face off against the Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland TrailBlazers in those games. 

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The Clippers game isn’t all too important compared to the Blazers one as the Clips have already clinched a Playoff berth as a result of the Lakers’ loss to the Kings. However, with the Blazers and Lakers having near identical records while in the fight for the 6th seed out West, not having LeBron James could shift the tide in Portland’s favor. 

Skip Bayless goes calls out LeBron James for not suiting up against the Los Angeles Clippers. 

It seems as though Skip Bayless is clinging on to the ‘Battle for LA’ narrative a bit too hard as he took to Twitter to call out LeBron James for essentially ‘dodging’ the upcoming Clippers game. 

“Now LeBron won’t play Thursday or Friday? I understand not wanting to play ack to back at Portland. But are you sure he just doesn’t want any part of the Clippers right now? High embarrassment potential.”

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It would make no sense for LeBron James to return a day earlier and then take rest again at Portland. This would result in further re-aggravation of his ankle soreness. If anything, he should take an extra day of continuous rest and come back against the Blazers to help the LakeShow claim a higher seed in order to avoid the Play-in tournament.