LeBron James has been accused of being the “most overprotected superstar in the history of sports” after the Los Angeles Lakers slipped to consecutive defeats to the Orlando Magic and Denver Nuggets.
A buzzer-beating three-pointer by Franz Wagner condemned the hosts at the Crypto.com Arena to a second-successive defeat as they came up short in a 119-118 contest with the Magic, handing JJ Redick his first loss on home patch.
Then on November 24, Nikola Jokic‘s Nuggets comfortably won in a 127-102 blowout loss as their record slumps to 10-6 for the season, leaving them fourth in the Western Conference and 2.5 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder at the summit.
However, whilst it’s far from a crisis, Skip Bayless decided to round the criticism straight onto James and accused him of managing to avoid the blame once again by calling out the media and press.
“I’m constantly amazed by how hard the LeBron-worshipping media works to protect him by ignoring so many of his classic failures,” Bayless said on his show. “LeBron eclipses Aaron Rodgers as the most overprotected superstar in sports history.
“LeBron, for his career, is a 74% free-throw shooter. That ranks, since he came into the league, 682nd all-time. This year, he’s right on his career average at 74.0%.
“That ranks, in this year’s NBA, 177th. That’s LeBron bleeping James… On late and close free throws, he’s the worst since he came into the league, by far.
“As I’ve said a billion times before, blind witnesses, he just has no clutch gene. He’s hiding from the basketball. He’s acting like he’s some kind of decoy. He’s no decoy. He’s LeBron bleeping James.”
Is LeBron to blame?
For all of his talents, LeBron isn’t known for being a very good free thrower and that continued against the Magic when he went two-for-four (50%). However, against the Nuggets he was 100%.
Additionally, across those two games, he posted 49 points, 14 assists and 16 rebounds in 72 minutes of action, so it does seem harsh to be laying the blame for the two defeats solely at the feet of the 39-year-old.
