"Michael Jordan would have said 'over my dead body'" - Skip Bayless scoffs at LeBron James & Lakers for overhyping IST banner

Skip Bayless scoffed at LeBron James and the Lakers raising the In-Tournament banner at Crypto.com Arena. Speaking on the Skipbayless show the sports personality opined that NBA legend Michael Jordan would not have been comfortable putting up the banner if he was in the same position.

The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament behind a 123-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Las Vegas on December 9. Anthony Davis had a monster game for the Lakers who used dominant size and length to overcome the Tyrese Haliburton and the rest of Indiana's young squad.

The Lakers surged their way to the top seed going 7-0 in the tournament by beating the Phoenix Suns, Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz in group play before defeating the highly-touted Suns in the quarterfinals, the New Orleans Pelicans in the semifinals and the Indiana Pacers in the championship.

Along with hoisting the NBA Cup, every Lakers player also received $500,000. Skip Bayless is not a fan of LA raising the In-season tournament banner.

"Michael Jordan would have said over my dead body," Skip Bayless said on hoisting the banner, "Magic Johnson and Kobe would have said onward and upward towards June, June is all that matters,"

The Los Angeles Lakers are in the worst position they have been in during this year's campaign. LA has lost four consecutive contests and overall is 1-5 since winning the league's inaugural In-Season Tournament championship. One of the major contributors to their woes is the poor performance of their starting point guard D'Angelo Russell.

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D'Angelo Russell struggles amidst Lakers' losing streak

Before December D'Angelo Russell was averaging 17.6 points and 6.6 assists while shooting 49.1% from the field and 41.8% from 3. He was one of the best Lakers players in 20 games.

Since entering December the point guard is averaging a poor 8.7 points, 5.1 assists, 40% shooting and 26.5% from 3. Furthermore, those statistics are made to look good by his 17 points in the Lakers' 118-111 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, LA's fourth straight loss and fifth in the last six games.

"I just gotta be better,” Russell said in a postgame interview. “There's no excuse for that. It's good to see some go in, but, obviously, we want the win to be the result. Just gotta play better. It happens.”

DLo had scored in single digits once this season before December but it's happened five times since this month kicked in.

However, the Lakers have one thing to be happy about, Austin Reaves' recent form. Reaves' 20-point, seven rebounds and five assists game against the Timberwolves upped his December averages to 19.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists.