Skip Bayless: Lakers Win and Clippers Loss is Ultimate Proof Kawhi Threatens and Haunts LeBron

Skip Bayless reached Galaxy Brain again today on Undisputed. The day after LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers won a game and Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers lost a game, Skip made the case that LeBron is threatened, haunted, and tormented by Kawhi.

Even by daytime sports shouting talking head hot take standards, this one is a doozy. Skip's initial take is that Kawhi is taking over LeBron's "stage" at Staples Center. Again, this is the morning after LeBron won at Staples Center and Kawhi lost in Houston. I'm not sure which words in that sentence to italicize for impact because each one really deserves a hand-clapping emoji.

Skip then brings up a New Balance advertisement as proof-- as if New Balance putting up a billboard in Los Angeles saying "This is Now JaVale McGee-chester" would make it so. But there's more!

He goes on to discuss Kawhi Leonard's load management, which again, is 100% smart and defensible. Skip starts by saying Kawhi "doesn't do November 13th." Not only did Kawhi Leonard play last night, but he played a season-high 41 minutes. That's six more minutes than he played in any other game this season and he did it on one night's rest.

Next, he points out that everything happening in the NBA right now doesn't matter, predicts the Raptors will never win another title, and explains that Kawhi went to the Clippers so he could play in the shadows. Two minutes ago he was taking over the stage.

Back to load management, though. While Kawhi is load-managing in games where he plays 41 minutes, LeBron is playing all the time as a P.R. move. If you take away this season where he has appeared in all 11 Lakers games and last season when he was shut down with an injury, LeBron has appeared in 94% of his team's regular season games from his rookie year through the end of the 2017-2018 season. He played 82 games in his last season in Cleveland. This is what he does.

Skip accuses LeBron of padding his stats. On a night where Anthony Davis wasn't available and he played a season-low 26 minutes. How many shots did LeBron take? 21. He's averaging 18.9 field goal attempts a game this season.

Finally, Skip goes back to his strongest and most coherent argument. The proof that Kawhi currently lives rent-free inside LeBron James' head is that Kawhi Leonard won NBA Finals MVP last season, something LeBron has done three times.

The mental gymnastics. The leaps of logic. The utter hot take-ery. It is pure performance art. It is peak Skip Bayless.