While nobody had dared say it out loud, LeBron James had pretty much been counted out by many fans and analysts this season. For the first time in his career, his contract situation was shrouded in mystery. To make matters worse, he was diagnosed with sciatica and missed the opening weeks of the 2025-26 NBA season. Just this week, he celebrated his 41st birthday.
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To put it mildly, things hadn’t been looking up for LeBron and the Lakers, who had won just 1 of their last 5 games. All that would change, however, when the Lakers took on the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.
Luka Doncic, who had been on the receiving end of some deserved criticism, led the Lakers to a 128-121 win, scoring 34 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. LeBron also showed out, ending the night with 31 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists, his best performance this season. Interestingly, in light of this, LeBron’s biggest critic, Skip Bayless, has come out making arguments in his favor.
The former ESPN analyst took to his Twitter account to share, “Lakers survive sub-.500 Memphis thanks mostly to LeBron’s 12 of 18, winning in spite of Luka’s 1-7 from 3 (31% for yr on NBA’s 2nd most attempts) and increasing his league-leading turnovers with 6 more. Yet fans chant MVP???”
It does come as a surprise to see Bayless defending LeBron here, but if you look closer, it seems he is more focused on criticizing Doncic than praising the four-time NBA champion.
LeBron has, by his own admission, taken a backseat this season, adjusting his game to suit Doncic and Austin Reaves. Since his return from the sciatica injury, his role on the team has even come under serious scrutiny, with the primary criticism being that his performance hasn’t translated into wins for the Lakers. Obviously, that wasn’t the case last night.
And as far as Doncic is concerned, after being widely criticized for not even pretending to care about defense, it would appear that the Slovenian star has made some conscious efforts in that regard. He pushed up the pace and seemed to be moving up and down the floor much more than usual.
While that doesn’t completely solve the Lakers’ defensive woes, it is a start. And given the quality of his roster, head coach JJ Redick will take that with both hands.
Meanwhile, Doncic is currently third on the 2025-26 NBA season’s MVP ladder, trailing Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic. Doncic, however, remains a constant threat to the two stalwarts ahead of him and could easily drop a triple-double any night to make his case. Heck, he might even win over Bayless.
