Skip Bayless destroys Luka’s impact without LeBron: ‘Most of his points felt like empty calories’

Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic had some big numbers on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks, but they came in a losing effort, and sports pundit Skip Bayless felt like many of Doncic’s points were “empty calories.”

Bayless used the performance as an example of why the Dallas Mavericks traded Doncic away and “why I was good with it.” He argued that the 26-year-old is really missing star teammate LeBron James.

“Tonight’s Laker game at Milwaukee on national TV was exactly why Nico Harrison and the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic and why I was good with it,” Bayless said. “Now, obviously, in Dallas, as soon as Anthony Davis got there, he got hurt, and everybody including Kyrie [Irving] got hurt, so we gotta wait until next year to grade the trade.

“But tonight at Milwaukee was yet another testament to just how great LeBron James is playing at age 40 in year 22. Never seen anything like it. League’s never seen anything like it. We’ll never see anything like it again, at least as long as I live, maybe as long as you live.

“Tonight at Milwaukee, Luka Doncic scored 45 points. He had 29 by halftime. He had a hot streak from 3 in the first half in which he scored 10 straight points, and he wound up making five out of nine 3s in the first half, and then he went cold for a stretch, and most of his points felt like empty calories.

“Most of his points had little to no impact on the scoreboard, and tonight at Milwaukee on national TV, we saw how much Luka Doncic is missing LeBron bleeping James.

“… It has become the ultimate basketball joy for me to watch these two combine their genius on the basketball floor. … I got hooked on it because it was like watching two Magic Johnsons on the floor. Now, without LeBron, Luka’s like half a Magic.”

Doncic finished with 45 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block against the Bucks while shooting 14-for-27 from the field and 7-for-13 from beyond the arc. The 45 points matched his season-high, which he set when he was still with the Mavs.

James left L.A.’s game against the Boston Celtics on Saturday with a groin injury and hasn’t played since. The Lakers went on to lose the game against Boston after he exited, and they’ve lost two more games since then, putting them on a three-game losing streak.

While Bayless appears to have his critiques about Doncic, he clearly loves watching Doncic and James as a duo. The hope is that the two stars will be back on the floor together in the near future. They will both be sidelined on Friday when the Lakers face the Denver Nuggets.

L.A. recently held the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference but is now in the No. 4 spot amid its losing streak. The Lakers have shown enough to be taken seriously in any playoff series, but if they want to get a desirable seed heading into the postseason, they’re going to have to get back on track in the coming days and weeks.

Bayless may receive some pushback for being so harsh on Doncic after a 45-point game, but the Lakers newcomer likely isn’t too worried about what the media has to say right now.