Yahoo Sports senior writer Chris Haynes defended Lakers forward LeBron James on the set of Fox Sports 1's Undisputed, going against perennial James critic Skip Bayless, who questioned his leadership after a Game 1 debacle in the NBA Finals.
Bayless, a lifelong Michael Jordan admirer and apologist, intended to vault Kevin Durant above James, claiming that the latter's post-regulation bench meltdown put serious questions on his title as the best leader in the league.
Haynes defended James, claiming Jordan never had to go through such daunting competition during his reign as the NBA's best player.
Bayless: “What did we see in the last two Game 3s of the last two Finals, what did we see. We see that KD has killer in him and LeBron has shaky in him. That's what we saw… Did you see the end of Game 1 last year? You were there and what happened in the timeout before overtime started, you see what LeBron did on the bench?”
Haynes: “I saw what J.R. [Smith] did before that…”
Bayless: “I saw a complete meltdown by a guy he says [pointing at Shannon Sharpe] is one of the great leaders in the history of sports. I saw a meltdown on the bench, putting his head down. It was a tantrum that he threw on the bench. And he wanted to seat separate from the team like ‘I don't even want to associate with these people' … Michael Jordan would have said ‘here we go.'”
Haynes: “Michael Jordan never faced no team like that… I ain't forgotten, I just don't remember Jordan having to go up against the likes of a KD, a Steph, Klay Thompson, a Draymond, Steve Kerr.”
"I just don't remember Jordan having to go up against the likes of a KD, Steph, Klay Thompson, Draymond, Steve Kerr." — @ChrisBHaynes pic.twitter.com/AdheaSFarF
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) October 3, 2018
LeBron James knew he was facing an uphill battle going into the 2017-18 season without Kyrie Irving, featuring a hollowed out roster plagued by injuries and subpar play, which eventually set up his move to Los Angeles.
While the meltdown does raise some questions about his leadership, it's tough to come so close to grasping victory and then re-focusing to play an overtime period when the stakes are so high.
The Lakers will be expecting James to show his best leadership yet, with a young core who is closely watching and the impending comparisons to Kobe Bryant as the face of the franchise.
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