Skip Bayless Accuses LeBron James of Faking Injury That Will Keep Him Sidelined for Season Opener

Whether or not LeBron James’ basketball career extends beyond his 23rd season remains a mystery. At this point, however, it’s certain that he’s going to miss the first few weeks of the upcoming NBA season after being diagnosed with sciatica.

The announcement came just two weeks ahead of their season opener against the Golden State Warriors, and is sure to be a major concern for the LA Lakers. Weirdly enough, though, analyst Skip Bayless appears concerned for a different reason.

The controversial NBA pundit, who has, in the past, often criticized James, doesn’t believe that the four-time NBA champion actually has sciatica. Bayless has boldly proclaimed that James is, in fact, faking it.

According to Bayless, LeBron isn’t actually in any kind of pain at all. He asserts with confidence that the Lakers star taking a break from the season opener is a tantrum at best.

“I told you, this was going on,” Bayless began. “LeBron James isn’t hurting. He’s pouting. He’s rebelling. He’s going little kid on the Los Angeles Lakers for the way they have treated him in his view,” he continued, turning the conversation about this being LeBron’s reaction to Luka Doncic being the new star on the horizon.

“He’s saying, ‘okay, if Luka is the man, if I am not in your plans, then I will basically take my basketball and go home,” Bayless argued. “We were told as training camp opened that he had nerve irritation in his glute and that could translate into the current sciatica,” he added, ensuring to use air quotes for Lebron’s reported condition.

Claiming that LeBron and his team were masters at crafting injury-related excuses, Bayless added that nobody in the history of all sports had ever been more “clever and deceitful in faking and creating and exaggerating injuries than LeBron James and his camp.”

Bayless then went full throttle, accusing LeBron of suffering from “sciatica of the psyche,” insisting that the only part of James that was truly injured right now was his pride.

“They got stepped on, by of all people, the Lakers. I told you this was coming because this was clear to me and a shock to me as the Lakers were extending Luka, and extending open hands to Luka, as in ‘we will do everything in our power to make you happy as the new face of this franchise,'” Bayless continued.

The analyst bases his claims on the fact that the Lakers brass flew all the way to Europe to support the Slovenian star in his pursuit of EuroBasket. They apparently went out of their way to assure Doncic and his camp that he was the man leading the gold and purple nation for the foreseeable future, not LeBron James.

Bayless claims that even though LeBron and Doncic vibed well on the court, the 4x NBA champion “disappeared” during Games 3, 4, and 5 during the playoffs last season. Following this, Lakers executive Rob Pellinka had apparently had had enough of LeBron because he was a repeated offender, Bayless further noted.

Attributing the phrase “he’s 40 and he’s washed” to Pellinka when describing LeBron, Bayless claims that even he was shocked by how the Lakers went all in on Doncic. Especially since LeBron was reportedly seeking a contract extension of at least two years at the time.

LeBron apparently wanted to do a whole farewell tour across America and retire as a Laker, but the front desk pushed his hand, and now they have to deal with the player pushing back.

Well, it will certainly be difficult to ascertain if anything Bayless says holds any truth. At this point, it sounds largely like conjecture, since LeBron himself has yet to respond to any of these claims.