“He’s now the all-time greatest master media manipulator” - Skip Bayless believes LeBron James is trying to scapegoat Rob Pelinka for LA Lakers’ struggles

Skip Bayless has launched a scathing attack on LA Lakers superstar LeBron James, claiming the latter is trying to scapegoat Rob Pelinka for the team's struggles.

The Lakers did not make any moves at the trade deadline, which led to several reports suggesting that there is a problem between the Lakers management and James.

Here's what Bayless had to say about this on the latest episode of his podcast, 'The Skip Bayless Show':

"LeBron James did clinch one 'GOAT' award over All-Star weekend. He's now hands down, the all-time greatest master media manipulator in the history of all of sports."

He continued:

"The 'phony GOAT' as I call him (LeBron) in the basketball context just managed to scapegoat Lakers GM Rob Pelinka for not fixing the problem that LeBron himself created in the first place."

The 'King' was heard appreciating the work done by OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti and Cavs' GM Koby Altman for constructing young and talented rosters this year at the All-Star weekend. He also praised LA Rams GM Les Snead for not worrying about draft picks as the Rams eventually went on to win this year's Super Bowl.

All of James' words were assumed to be as taunts directed towards LA Lakers' GM Pelinka for not trading Russell Westbrook and the 2027 first-round pick to the Houston Rockets in exchange for John Wall.

Many believe that James tried to force the Lakers to make a move for Westbrook instead of Buddy Hield in the offseason. The move has backfired spectacularly, with Westbrook underperforming and not appearing that great a fit alongside James and Anthony Davis.

Consequently, James has had to endure plenty of criticism from fans and analysts for altering LA's offseason plans.

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LeBron James and LA Lakers keep sliding down, record embarrassing defeat to drop to 27-33 for the year

The LeBron James-led LA Lakers recorded another embarrassing loss against a lowly-ranked team recently. The Pelicans handed them a 123-95 defeat at home in their previous outing. The Lakers lacked the intensity to play competitive basketball and committed a whopping 23 turnovers during the contest.

James and Westbrook combined for 14 turnovers alone while recording just four assists. The LA Lakers fans in the arena ended up booing their team for their dismal showing as the Pelicans dominated them from the get-go.

LeBron James and co. have now lost 14 of their last 20 games and haven't recorded consecutive wins even once in that stretch. The Lakers have the third toughest schedule remaining and are likely to end up in the play-in tournament for the second year in a row.