In a (not so) surprising turn of events following the Super Bowl last week, Skip Bayless has made another claim about LeBron James. If you remember, Bayless first went after James when the Lakers were in Philly and called out the 4x MVP for not acknowledging Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean. A few days later, DeJean scored a touchdown on a pick 6 off Patrick Mahomes on the way to the Eagles’ blowout win in the Super Bowl.
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Bayless posted a video to his YouTube channel, claiming James didn’t dap up DeJean in that January game because he didn’t think he was a pro-footballer. Now, this line of reasoning seems irrational, but Bayless’ rants about James often are. He went on to say James probably thought DeJean was just a casual 76ers fan or part of the Eagles’ players’ entourage. He said,
“I assume LeBron thought he was just some Sixers fan, sitting next to whoever the last of the Eagles was. Maybe an entourage member, maybe an agent, some kind of manager type who’d come to the game with one of the star Eagles.”
Bayless added, “I think he stereotyped the sort of average-looking baby-faced white guy as not a football player,” but said he couldn’t condemn his actions.
While Bayless and other James detractors took his non-acknowledgment of DeJean as disrespect toward the 22-year-old, the King himself came out to clear the air about the whole misunderstanding. On a social media post recapping the incident, James mentioned that he had previous relationships with the players he did dap up (DaVonta Smith and AJ Brown).
LeBron James and Cooper DeJean cleared the air
James went on to say that he did know who DeJean was, and in another reply on the original post, wished the youngster luck in the Super Bowl. “Cooper, you’re a stud brother and best of luck in the Super Bowl,” James added.
DeJean, who’s a Lakers fan, seemed to have taken that well-wishing and run with it, as he became the only person in NFL history to score a touchdown on his birthday in the Super Bowl. His blistering run off the pick 6 put the Eagles up 17-0, and established a solid lead over the Chiefs.
The rookie had the sense of humor to joke about the whole incident after the victory too, as he said, “That’d be pretty cool,” when asked if James would possible dap him up the next time they met.
