LeBron James’ Contact With Dante Exum Deemed a Frustration Foul by Skip Bayless, Calls for Flagrant During 3rd Quarter vs Mavericks

Despite missing out on several key roster pieces, the Dallas Mavericks forced a close contest at Crypto.com Arena. Skip Bayless believes that the frustration got to LeBron James during the game. In Luka Doncic’s first battle against his former team, Kyrie Irving kept the game competitive through four quarters.

However, as the third period drew to a close, that competitiveness resulted in a harsh play involving James and Dante Exum. The King went up for a layup over the Mavs guard when the ball slipped out of his hands.

But since LeBron was already in motion, he ended up raising his arms for the layup, which led to an unfortunate collision with Exum. This resulted in a harsh blow for Exum, who had to exit the game. According to Bayless, the play should have merited a flagrant foul call.

The Australian guard had scored two consecutive baskets for the Mavericks before catching an elbow from the King. The contact dropped him to the floor and forced him to exit the game in the final seconds of the third quarter.

Much to Skip’s dismay, the officials ruled it as a turnover and didn’t call a foul against James. The ruling was supported by the footage that showed James’ shooting hand rising after he lost the ball, suggesting that the contact was inadvertent and not malicious.

Of course, Bayless didn’t agree with the decision. “LeBron knew he had lost the ball and, frustrated, followed through with his elbow into Exum’s face,” the 73-year-old tweeted.

As they often do, James’ fanbase came to defend the four-time MVP from Skip’s baseless accusations.