A 44-point second-quarter explosion from the Kings and LeBron James unexpectedly going down in the fourth were a bad match. The Los Angeles were at the wrong place at the wrong time as De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis popped off. While there are still a lot of opportunities for the Darvin Ham-led squad to bounce back, Skip Bayless chose to blast the one person who seems to always have his attention in the middle of the game.

Skip Bayless always has something to say about LeBron James. It often comes out as negative most of the time and this loss to the Kings was no exception. The veteran host saw the Lakers get demolished despite leading early and took the opportunity to jump on X.

“I just watched an amazing development. The Lakers were up 19 on the Kings late first quarter. Now, at half, the Lakers trail 72-59. THEY GAVE UP A 54-20 RUN AT HOME. The Kings are the King's daddy,” Bayless wrote.

The Lakers did get off to a blazing start with a 37 to 28 lead after the first quarter. But, De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis surgically picked apart Darvin Hams' schemes on defense. This led to the Kings scoring 44 points in just one quarter. Not to mention, the Lakers found it hard to get their footing back on offense in this period too as they would only score 20 points.

James tried his best to propel his squad to get back in striking distance. But, his effort did not pay off this time around and he even got hurt with three minutes and 55 seconds left in the game.

Kings mop the Lakers

 

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) dunks for the basket against Sacramento Kings center Alex Len (25) during the first half at Crypto.com Arena
© Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

When Fox is hitting 18 out of his 31 shots from the field for 41 points, something is clearly wrong with the team's defense. Coach Ham would try to deny the Kings guard from getting a shot up but it was Sabonis who stepped up then. The big man notched an insane triple-double with 16 points, 19 assists, and 14 rebounds. They also got help from Malik Monk off the bench who scored 26 points and dropped eight dimes.

James did go for 31 points and his 14 assists helped six Lakers notch double-digit scoring numbers. Even Rui Hachimura scored 27 in this game. But, it was just not their fate to move up in the Western Conference standings by getting their 35th win.