JJ Redick walked off the floor in Oklahoma City convinced his star had been wronged. The Los Angeles Lakers had just dropped Game 2 of their first-round series 125-107, falling 0-2 in the process, and the head coach had no interest in dressing up his frustration with the officiating crew.
"LeBron has the worst whistle of any star player I've ever seen," Redick said. "I mean, I've been with him two years now. The smaller guys, because they can be theatric, they typically draw more fouls, and the bigger players that are built like LeBron, it's hard for them. But he gets clobbered, and he got clobbered again tonight a bunch. Guy gets hit on the head more than any player I've seen on drives, and it rarely gets called."
Redick's complaints landed on a First Take set that, for the first time in years, featured a familiar face on the opposite chair. Skip Bayless made his much-trailed return alongside Stephen A. Smith, and he wasted no time pulling on a black suit and turning the cameras on Los Angeles.
"I dressed for a funeral. Your funeral," Bayless said as he greeted Smith. "It's about to be a rough two hours for you."
The rough two hours came at the Lakers' expense. Bayless reminded viewers that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP, had been called for his fourth foul shortly into the second half and missed the entire third quarter — a stretch in which the Thunder still ripped off a 22-4 run powered by Jaylin Williams, Cason Wallace and Jared McCain.
"I don't want to hear Lakers bellyaching about foul calls," Bayless said. "The Thunder shot 26 free throws last night to 21 for the Lakers, but Austin Reaves shot 11 free throws to SGA's nine. So my point is it's been 50-50."
Then Bayless turned the dial to LeBron James personally. The four-time MVP took the floor for his 300th playoff game on Thursday — the most in NBA history — but Bayless argued the whistle reflected something deeper than physics.
"He has started to beg for every call, even worse than Luka begs for every call. And it gets hard to watch," Bayless said. "Here's the truth about LeBron James. We're talking about age 41, year 23. He's lost some of the respect of the referees because he does miss quite a few bunnies at the rim that he used to convert. He does not finish the way he used to finish. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finishes like crazy at the rim, and he does get the respect of the whistle."
Stephen A. Smith was not letting it slide. While conceding that the Thunder's 22-4 surge with SGA on the bench was the actual reason the Lakers lost the game, he insisted Redick had a point.
"You can sit up there and talk about the Lakers whining, but with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench, they were on a 22-4 run. There's no excuse for that. The Lakers lost the game. They lost to a better team. We understand that. But that doesn't mean that JJ Redick was wrong," Smith said. "LeBron James is averaging over five free throws a game. He's got five in the first two games of this series total."
Smith pointed to a sequence in the first quarter when James was knocked to the ground and never received a call, and a separate driving play that should have been an and-one. He framed Redick's complaint as part of a broader trend.
"This year has been conspicuously bad," Smith said. "We have watched one game after another, one team after another complain about the ineptitude of the officiating. Maybe that's because of some of the rule changes that have taken place. Maybe because the NBA really, really loves offense."
Austen Reaves had to be calmed at center court after confronting crew chief John Goble, with James and several teammates surrounding him. The Lakers shot 50% from the floor and still lost by 18. They head back to Crypto.com Arena facing the very real possibility their season ends in the next week — and a summer of LeBron, Reaves and Luka decisions waiting on the other side.
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*Originally published on [NBA News](https://nbanews.global/article/jj-redick-lebron-worst-whistle-skip-bayless-returns-first-take-may-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
