Skip Bayless made a dramatic appearance on ESPN’s First Take this Friday, alongside Stephen A. Smith, for the first time since leaving the network back in 2016.
His presence alone generated enormous attention across the sports world, especially considering the pair’s iconic partnership during the peak years of the debate show.
However, Bayless quickly created even more headlines after sharing a controversial all-time NBA ranking that included a brutal assessment of LeBron James.
Skip Bayless ranks LeBron James 9th best of all-time and claims he was not born with the ‘clutch gene’
During the First Take appearance, Bayless defended that LeBron should only be ranked ninth on the NBA’s all-time greatest players list.
While many basketball fans place LeBron directly beside Michael Jordan in the GOAT debate, the commentator insisted several legendary names deserve to rank ahead of the Lakers superstar.
“The eight players above LeBron James on my list are all cold-blooded basketball killers that I would trust with games for my life,” Bayless explained during the segment.
“And LeBron James has proven over many years to be the most mentally fragile superstar.
“I mean the poor man, as gifted as he is, was born without a clutch gene. So he’s lucky to be in the top 10 because he’s a liability and always has been at the late game free throw line,” he concluded.
Bayless ranked Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant and Larry Bird ahead of LeBron on his list.
Skip Bayless still praised LeBron James for incredible longevity
Despite the criticism, Bayless still credited LeBron for possessing arguably the greatest longevity, not only regarding professional basketball, but across all sports.
“I give you longevity king or the longevity GOAT, because he is the most durable player in the history of sports and that’s not even close,” the columnist said.
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