“Luka Doncic is ‘baby Larry Bird’? He’s ‘maybe’ Bird at best!”: Skip Bayless shuts down comparisons between Celtics legend and the Mavericks’ successor to Dirk Nowitzki

Undisputed analyst Skip Bayless rubbishes comparisons that NBA fans are making for Luka Doncic with Celtics legend Larry Bird.

One of the most controversial television personalities in all American sports. Regarded by many as a LeBron James hater, Bayless is often known to criticize the fan favorites.

As James is at the flag end of his career, the undisputed analyst seems to have found a new target in the Slovenian superstar Luka Doncic. Bayless is often seen brushing aside any comparisons of Luka to the 3x NBA champion Larry Bird.

Luka recently signed a 5-year $207M contract with the Dallas Mavericks, making him one of the youngest players to sign such an expensive contract.

During a recent episode of Undisputed, while discussing Luka’s recent signing with the Mavericks, Bayless couldn’t help but exploit the weak areas of the former rookie of the year.

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The analyst came up with a list of Luka’s shortcomings as a player that mainly highlighted his inability to shoot 3-pointers and his poor free-throw shooting.

Skip Bayless goes on a rant against Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic post his recent signing with the Mark Cuban franchise

Co-panelist on the show Shannon Sharpe has often compared the Slovenian superstar to Larry Bird, even calling him the baby bird. Bayless, who rather seemed livid with the comparisons to Bird, went on a rant saying,

“I don’t know if you actually remember Larry Bird,” Bayless told Shannon. “If he were your favorite player, you’d honor him by not even bringing him with this kid into the same conversation.”

“‘Baby Bird’ is ‘maybe’ Bird at best. He can’t shoot a flick and I can prove it with stats. He can’t shoot from 3 and can’t shoot from the free throws. He’s a career 33% 3-point shooter. Is that Larry Bird?”

The former ESPN employee wouldn’t stop at that and continued saying,

“Did you think Larry Bird ever shot a single airball from the free-throw line? Because I’m willing to bet all my life savings that he never air-balled a free throw in an NBA game. He [Luka] airballs free throws in playoff games. He frequently airballs 3-point shots.”

Luka Doncic playoffs appearances

Bayless didn’t shy away from calling out the star for being unable to get past the LA Clippers in his last two post-season appearances.

“What did we see happening against the Clippers? Obviously, he lost against the Clippers in his first playoff two years ago, in the bubble, and everybody said, ‘oh, Porzingis was hurt.’

Luka Doncic had a 2-0 lead with two home games in Dallas. They go 2-0 and on a Friday night Game 3, they go up 32-19 in the 1st quarter, that’s a 19-point lead. What if I gave Larry Bird a 2-0 lead with a 19-point lead in Game 3 at home with a Game 4 at home? He would bury you. ”

Bayless added,

“Luka Doncic, as the primary ballhandler, as the superstar, as the pre-season MVP favorite, loses Game 3 by 10 at home and proceeds to lose Game 4 two days later by 25 points at home.”

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The analyst is right as far as stats go by, but that doesn’t discount from the fact that he often indulges in nitpicking, especially when it comes to Luka being predicted as a future league superstar.