The Los Angeles Lakers have to be the most polarizing team in the NBA today. It's difficult to doubt LeBron James, even as he enters his 20th season, but the roster around him just screams so much uncertainty. However, during the early days of preseason, it appears as if LeBron and the Lakers have impressed a noted pundit that's been harsh on them in the past, Undisputed's Skip Bayless.

While the Lakers lost to the Phoenix Suns 119-115, LeBron James went for 23 points on an impressive 8-11 shooting from the field in only 17 minutes, while Austin Reaves stuffed the stat sheet with his all around contributions. Meanwhile, the much-maligned Westbrook, despite making only 4 of 12 shots from the field, played with energy that buoyed the rest of the Lakers' supporting cast.

And this impressed Skip Bayless to the point where he thought that the Lakers, who finished 33-49 last season, have the makings of a championship contender, especially with young role players such as Kendrick Nunn, Lonnie Walker IV, and Damian Jones set to replace the aging Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, among others.

“I must admit, I saw the makings of a Western Conference contender. This team looks better than they did last year, because all of the fading stars on the bench are gone,” Bayless told his co-host Shannon Sharpe, but not before wondering whether Anthony Davis' absence from the game speaks to a potentially larger problem at hand.

(Skip to 0:56 of the video below.)

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In particular, Skip Bayless raved about Nunn, the Lakers' free-agency addition in 2021 that missed all of last year with nagging injury problems.

“[Nunn] can play. He can play for the Heat. You remember the Bubble Finals. He would come in, and light it up. He's a little lefty scorer, he's slick, and he's slithery, and he's got game. He's got a little electric to him where he's hard to stop,” Bayless added.

Still, the responsibility of steering the Lakers to where they want to be will fall on the shoulders of LeBron James. Bayless notably ripped into LeBron after he went 0-7 in their preseason opener, but he had a full-180 after LeBron's 23-point performance.

“I thought LeBron looked fabulous [against the Suns]. His body looks sensational. LeBron James last night looked 37 going on 27, and maybe 22, because his body looked 22-ish to me,” Bayless said.

It'd be interesting to see just how far the Lakers reach during the season where many expect LeBron James to pass Kareem-Abdul Jabbar in the NBA's All-Time scoring list.