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The countdown until LeBron James breaks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's regular season scoring record is well underway. James is currently tearing it up for the LA Lakers, although his dominant performances haven't translated to wins in Anthony Davis' absence. Despite that, James is marching ever closer to the record.
Sitting just 601 points behind Abdul-Jabbar as of Wednesday, James seems poised to break the record before the All-Star break. The Lakers have 25 games until then, and James, who has 37,386 points to Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387, is averaging 27.8 points per game.
With Dwyane Wade and countless other friends eager to see LBJ cement his place as the most successful scorer ever, Skip Bayless sees things differently.
On the heels of LeBron James deleting an old Tweet where he vowed never to miss the playoffs again, Bayless called his quest to set the scoring record a "sideshow."
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He spoke on a recent episode of "Undisputed" to lament James' poor decision-making in regards to the construction of the roster:
“I don't want him to fall completely out of sight where he just doesn't matter anymore. So, what matters now is passing Kareem, and it's going to be the biggest sideshow in the history of the NBA as we approach. So, I didn't have any problem with him, quote,unquote, 'stat-padding' last night, because he nearly got to 30.
"The quicker he gets to Kareem, the better for the season, because you need to take the focus of the stench that is this team without Anthony Davis."
You can see his comments in the video above beginning at the 3:30 mark.
Skip Bayless' recent comments about LeBron James
Although Bayless is correct in that the LA Lakers have struggled without Anthony Davis, it's hard to ignore just how dominant LeBron James has been this month. Despite the team posting just a 4-6 record in their last 10, James has been on fire.
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In the month of December, he has posted seven games with 30-plus points. With the exception of a game where he sat out against the Phoenix Suns on December 19, James' stretch scoring 30+ came in seven consecutive games.
When James had scored 30+ in just five straight games, Bayless applauded him, saying:
"If I were to scale a 1-10 on this, on how impressive five straight games that he has played of 30 points, I’m going to give it a 10 because I’ve never seen anything like this. I'm not exaggerating or being sarcastic, I'm just telling you the truth."
Despite that, he's remained adamant that James is to blame for the Lakers' shortcomings given how hands-on he was in roster construction. While Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and general manager Rob Pelinka take most of the blame, Bayless has stated time and time again that it's LeBron James' fault.
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