“LeBron James Pouted and Protested”: Lakers Star Playing on Back-to-Back Nights Has Skip Bayless Reasserting All-Star Game Claim

Pulling out of the All-Star Game at the last minute has gotten LeBron James a bad reputation. He has been criticized and called out for not giving the game the respect it deserves. LBJ claimed he had to sit out due to an ankle injury, but playing back-to-back games immediately after the All-Star break isn’t helping his case.

After losing to the Hornets yesterday, LeBron’s Lakers played the Portland Trail Blazers tonight. Seeing him play 36 minutes and putting up a game-winning 40-point performance isn’t sitting well with Skip Bayless.

The media veteran has been very critical of LBJ for as long as we can think of. Ducking the ASG for selfish reasons has allowed Bayless to berate him even more. After giving the superstar a backhanded compliment for his performance by also mentioning that he had 11 turnovers against the Blazers, Bayless made a post about the ASG.

He wrote, “I’ll say it again: LeBron pouted and protested when he didn’t participate in Sunday night’s new All-Star Game format that he obviously considered beneath him.” Being accused of seeing an All-Star Game as something that’s beneath him is a huge allegation. But this isn’t the first time when Bayless has said the same.

On the night of the ASG, he had said the same thing about LeBron. In fairness, Bayless wasn’t the only one who thought that LeBron did a disservice to the game by not participating. To make things worse, he waited until the last moment to reveal that he wouldn’t be available for the games. The popular opinion at the time was that he should’ve given an early notice so that someone else could’ve taken his spot.

How others reacted to LeBron James’ missing the All-Star Game

Despite the Lakers losing to the Hornets, the highlight of the game was LeBron’s dunk over Mark Williams. The 40-year-old leaped over the 7-foot center for a slam dunk and had the arena on its feet. While people were busy appreciating the athleticism, Kevin Garnett saw something else in it as well.

He noticed how LeBron had backed out from the ASG only days ago and now he’s dunking on much younger and taller players. The Celtics legend took to his Instagram story and wrote, “Bron full of shiiii. Ankle my a**. Hit the clock on the young buhs.”

On the other hand, some didn’t make a big deal out of LeBron not playing in the ASG. Gilbert Arenas backed LeBron’s decision by saying that it’s not worth risking an injury at this point in the season. He said, “I don’t really mind [LeBron missing the game] because the guys don’t really wanna play anyway.”

Lou Williams also had something similar to say on the subject. On Run It Back, he said, “If I am a 21-year veteran, and if I am LeBron James, and I get there and I am like, you know I am not about to play against the Rising Stars.”

Williams said that if Michael Jordan or the late, great Kobe Bryant were in his position, they’d not want to play against a group of Rising Stars either.