Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith are at it again. This time the debate is about the Los Angeles Lakers’ rebuilt roster and whether having three white players as the team’s core can actually work in the modern NBA.
It started on The Stephen A. Smith Show, where Smith unloaded on the Lakers’ front office after LeBron James left for free agency and Rui Hachimura signed with the Clippers. The Lakers responded by trading for center Walker Kessler, signing Sandro Mamukelashvili, and locking up Austin Reaves on a four-year, $185 million max extension to play next to Luka Doncic. That leaves Doncic, Reaves, and Kessler as the team’s three most prominent players. All white.
Smith did not hold back.
“Where the hell do the Los Angeles Lakers think they’re going with a bunch of white dudes?” Smith said. “Your three top players are white dudes? Really? This ain’t golf. This ain’t baseball. Hell, it ain’t even soccer. What you all think this is? Basketball. In NBA history, when have you seen your three most prominent players on a basketball team all be white. And that takes you to the promised land? Somebody got to say it so I’m saying it.”
Bayless, never one to let a hot take go unanswered, posted a video pushing back. He argued that Doncic, Reaves, and Kessler aren’t your typical white players and that their fit together is being underestimated.
“These aren’t three typical white dudes because really there’s nothing typical about any of these three,” Bayless said. “Three rare white dudes, as far as I’m concerned.”
Bayless admitted the Thunder and Spurs are still the title favorites out West. But he said the Lakers could push for the No. 3 seed if everything clicks. He called the trio an “outlier fit” and said the team’s potential is being overlooked because of race-based criticism.
“These snowflake Lakers have the potential to shatter that mold,” Bayless said.
He also pointed to what he called a “white player resurgence” across the league, though he didn’t name specific examples beyond the Lakers’ core. The real question is whether this roster can hang with the Thunder’s athleticism or the Spurs’ size. On paper it’s a weird mix. Doncic is a slow-footed genius. Reaves is a crafty scorer who plays bigger than his size. Kessler is a rim-running big who can’t shoot. It’s not a traditional formula for a contender.
But the Lakers are betting that fit and skill can overcome whatever limits the history books suggest. Whether that works or not, it’s a fascinating experiment. And it clearly struck a nerve with two of the loudest voices in sports media.
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