The Los Angeles Lakers are hosting the Phoenix Suns at Crypto Arena. And while Skip Bayless may not be in attendance, he sure is tuned into the game while sitting at home to form his analysis. Bayless is widely known for his heavy criticism of LeBron James on any aspect he gets. But this time, the Undisputed host had praise for The King instead of picking apart his game.
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Bayless went on X(formerly Twitter) to praise LeBron James’ pass to D’Angelo Russell. Skip Bayless tweeted, “WHAT A BEAUTIFUL LONG BEHIND-THE-BACK BOUNCE PASS BY LEBRON JAMES TO AD FOR AN EASY BUCKET. LBJ: STILL THE BEST PASSER IN BASKETBALL.”
Now, even though Bayless is praising Bron for the first time in many moons, he may have gotten his tweet a tad bit wrong. In the video below, James pulls off a behind-the-back pass to D’Angelo Russell but Bayless mistook it for Anthony Davis instead.
Regardless of Skip Bayless’ minor typo, his praise of the pass is right on the money. Even at 39 years of age, LeBron James not only has great court vision but also the strength and fluidity to pull off such a move.
The ball was served on a platter to D’Angelo Russell who was running alongside LeBron James on the fastbreak opportunity. D-Lo made the smart move of cutting to the basket and the accuracy of James’ pass just speaks for itself. And the scariest part of it all is that, James still shows no signs of slowing, evidently still having the ability to pull off such incredible plays on a nightly basis.
As for Bayless’ blunder on X, a fan went as far as to call him out on his tweet. The fan ended up replying to his tweet, “Pass was to dlo lol.”
Given the number of years, Bayless spent nitpicking every little aspect of James’s game, even when the analyst chooses to praise the player, fans are now itching to give him a taste of his own medicine. That said, if he continues to talk about James with the same energy, it likely won’t be long before fans warm up to him.
Is LeBron James a pass-first type of player?
LeBron James has often credited himself for being a pass-first player in the past, despite it being his scoring that many choose to put most of their focus on.
Even James’ former coach Erik Spoelstra recently credited him for being a pass-first player. In a Lakers loss to the Miami Heat, Spoelstra mentioned how despite looking for his teammates first, James was able to drop big numbers in the scoring column.
However, not everyone bought into LeBron James looking to assist his teammates rather than score himself. In the past, Shaquille O’Neal called out James’ pass-first mentality, wondering if that was really the case, how has LBJ passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the all-time scoring list?
In the end, whether or not he is a pass-first guy seems to be up to the eye of the beholder. But when he does choose to move the rock so eloquently, it never fails to get the fans hyped to no limit.
