While plenty of interesting and surprising things have transpired lately in the NBA playoffs, there seems to be a lack of superstar power. Kevin Durant didn’t make it to the playoffs, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers‘ LeBron James and Luka Doncic, exited in the first round. Then, in the conference semifinals, Nikola Jokić and Stephen Curry went home early for the summer.
On Saturday, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who do feature budding superstar Anthony Edwards, devoured the Oklahoma City Thunder 143-101 to get on the board in the Western Conference finals. During the game, sports commentator Skip Bayless tweeted that he misses James — but for some bad reasons.
James didn’t play his best basketball when the Lakers were eliminated by the Timberwolves in the first round of the postseason. He shot poorly in three of the five fourth quarters in the series, and he had some costly miscues in Game 4 that helped the Timberwolves take full control with their third win of the series. As a result, he’s home watching the rest of the playoffs.
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However, he did have his usual excellent regular season, and he was named to the All-NBA Second Team. It seems reasonable to believe he will continue to play at the same level next season, when Los Angeles could have a truly championship-caliber roster.
With more help, perhaps he will be fresher and thus be more able to play up to his standards during crunch time in the playoffs.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Skip Bayless disses LeBron James by saying he misses the superstar