Well, we knew this was coming.
After LeBron James announced his desire to play with Steph Curry on the latest episode of The Shop, various sports personalities have led their respective shows debating what the comment meant for the future of NBA basketball.
Among those talking heads was resident LeBron hater, Skip Bayless, who unsurprisingly blasted James and his associates for the ill-timed comment Thursday on Undisputed.
He said he sees LeBron for who he truly is: “a master media manipulator. ”
“Shannon Sharpe, I regret to inform you that this was nothing but ulterior motive. What do I always call LeBron James? Master Media Manipulator. He and the great Maverick Carter, the brains behind the operation, have just done it to the media world again,” Bayless explained. “They have brilliantly, and fairly deviously, changed the narrative. No coincidence that just one day after the epic fail of a LeBron James team actually missing the play-in tournament, couldn’t even make the ten seed. They drop this clip as a tease for the next Shop and want does it do, it changes the narrative.”
The show host then went on to explain how the diversion resembles another athlete that has also had his share of playoff losses.
“It was vintage Aaron Rodgers,” Bayless exclaimed. “Aaron learned it from LeBron because Aaron Rodgers is the LeBron James of the National Football League. What does Aaron Rodgers do year after year?
Sharpe tried to defend James as comparing him to Rodgers is a bit of a stretch by Bayless, but the talking head veteran quickly turned it around on his co-host by asking him if he’d ever pull a stunt like this.
“Would Shannon Sharpe in his heyday ever suddenly suggest to somebody, ‘you know I would really like to play with Dan Marino’, no you wouldn’t have ever said that,” Bayless suggested.
“Absolutely,” Sharpe replied. “But if someone said who would you like to play with? I would like to play with Dan, but I’m good with number seven (John Elway). Oh I would like to play with Joe (Theismann), but I’m good with number seven. I’m always going to protect number 7 because that is where I am.”
The conversation continued open for a few minutes as Bayless and Sharpe argued over LeBron like they usually do. Skip does have a point this time though as James can be a bit manipulative of the mainstream media.
Watch above via Undisputed