LeBron James Lies About Injuries Says Skip Bayless Los Angeles Lakers Returns Playoff Chances Latest News

Skip Bayless said he believes LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul is sending out mixed messages about his right foot injury.

On Tuesday, the “Undisputed” host got into a heated argument with his co-host Shannon Sharpe as he went over the details of James’ injury and reports that the Lakers star will be out for several weeks with the injury.

Bayless first struggled with keeping James in Sunday’s eventual win over the Mavericks after he was heard saying, “I heard it pop” as he got on the right foot on a layup attempt in the third quarter.

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“When someone says there’s something wrong with LeBron James, why do you say it’s either not that serious or he’s lying?” Sharpe, before blaming Bayless, questioned Tom Brady during his NFL career to have kept the same level.

“But you never questioned when Tom Brady said anything,” said Sharpe, who recalled Bayless believing in the seriousness of Brady’s knee surgery, which he underwent during the offseason after winning one with the Buccaneers in 2021 won the Super Bowl.

“Wait a minute, are you calling Tom Brady a liar?” Bayless asked, to which Sharpe replied, “If you call LeBron James a liar about his injury, I am absolutely calling Tom Brady a liar about his.”

It was at this point that Bayless began asking Sharpe for information about James’ injury and brought up their close friendship.

“What exactly is his injury, Mr. Sharpe?” Bayless asked. “You’re close, you’re in the inner circle. I need to know what the injury is. They won’t even say what the injury is. It’s another mysterious LeBron injury.”

Bayless went on to say teams need to fully disclose a player’s injury for the sake of transparency, especially with someone like James as the face of the franchise.

“When does full disclosure tell you I need to tell you exactly what the injury is? How long has this been around?” Sharpe asked.

“It’s always been a thing since I started in this business,” Bayless said. “…It says injury report.”

Sharpe then brought up two separate reports from The Athletic’s Shams Charania and ESPN’s Arian Wojnarowski that James was missing a lot of time.

“Where do you think these reports came from?” Bayless asked before debunking Sharpe’s theory that they came from the Lakers.

“It’s coming from Rich Paul,” Bayless said of James’ agent. “Let’s be honest. Let’s do full disclosure. Let’s be transparent. It’s from Rich Paul. He sets every one of those narratives.”

Sharpe is a noted supporter and friend of James, whom he often defends against Bayless during their fiery debates on “Undisputed.” James also defended Sharpe after the Hall of Fame tight end fell out with Grizzlies players during a January 20 game.

Bayless has been one of James’ harshest critics for years.

On Monday, Bayless questioned the validity of James’ injury in a tweet that read, “Please explain how LeBron said he heard a pop yesterday as he went down – and still played on, scored 11 more points, afterwards DHam said LBJ was ‘good’… and now Shams reports he might miss the ‘extended time’??? Why and how did he keep playing without a limp when it was so bad???”

After the Lakers came back from a 27-point deficit to defeat the Mavericks 111-108 on Sunday, head coach Darvin Ham said James was “fine” when asked about the injury.

James was later seen limping as he exited the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Although Ham said Lakers medical staff examined James on Sunday and Monday, the full extent of his injury is unclear. The Lakers and James have yet to deal with reports that he was missing for an extended period.

The Lakers have already ruled out James for Tuesday’s game in Memphis due to pain in his right foot.

Wojnarowski reported that James will have his injury re-evaluated in two weeks and a timeline for his return is expected to extend beyond that check-in date.

Additionally, Charania reported on Tuesday that James initially injured his right foot in January and decided to play on the injury to make a late playoff push.

If Lakers big man Anthony Davis can stay healthy, the new-look Lakers will have a better roster to withstand a prolonged absence from James. They also have the easiest remaining schedule in the NBA.

The Lakers sit 12th in the West with a 29-32 record. They’re 2 1/2 games down from sixth place.

This article was originally published in The New York Post and republished with permission.