LeBron James had his best game of the season so far when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Los Angeles Clippers 135-118 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. James had a slow start, going scoreless in the first quarter, but finished strong to end the night with 25 points (9-15 FG), six rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block.
With James playing like his old self, Skip Bayless surprisingly praised him on X, but took a shot at Luka Doncic while doing so.
“LeBron, out for a month and nearing 41, is in better shape than Luka. So is Kawhi at 34.”
James is in better shape than most players in the NBA today. The 40-year-old has taken great care of his body over the years and is performing at a level far beyond anyone else at that age in NBA history.
There is no shame in Doncic not being in as good shape as James. It also doesn’t matter what you think the Slovenian looks like, considering he just recorded 43 points (14-28 FG), nine rebounds, 13 assists, one steal, and one block against the Clippers.
Doncic clearly played better than James, and he played far better than Kawhi Leonard, the other big name Bayless brought up. Leonard had just 19 points (6-14 FG), five rebounds, three assists, and a steal against the Lakers. Even if one does believe that the Clippers star is in better shape, what’s the point of that if he can’t produce at anywhere near the level that Doncic is producing?
Leonard is averaging 23.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in 2025-26. Now, the 34-year-old’s numbers would be better if he had stayed injury-free, but they still wouldn’t be anywhere close to as good as Doncic’s.
Doncic, who is in the best shape that he has been in for years, is averaging 35.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in 2025-26. The five-time All-Star is the NBA’s leading scorer and is very much in the MVP race. However bad shape Bayless thinks he’s in, it’s not stopping him from dominating on a nightly basis.
Speaking of the award, Doncic deservingly got to hear MVP chants from Lakers fans when he was at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. While that was a fine gesture from the crowd, Bayless claimed on X that James wouldn’t be happy about it.
“LeBron James can’t be real pleased hearing the Lakers crowd chant MVP for Luka Doncic.”
Bayless couldn’t go too long without taking a jab at James. To suggest that he would be insecure enough to the point where he would take offense to a teammate getting those chants is absurd.
James once stated that Anthony Davis was the MVP for the 2022-23 season during their time as teammates on the Lakers. He isn’t going to have any problem with Doncic getting those chants.
James would instead be happy about how well Doncic is playing. The better he plays, the greater the chance that the 21-time All-Star adds another NBA championship to his resume this season.
It’s not a surprise that Bayless is making such baseless statements, though. He went as far as to say that James was faking sciatica before this season. Bayless has been James’ biggest critic over the years and shows no signs of stopping.
