National Basketball Association

Skip Bayless: LeBron James suffers from 'Shaq syndrome' with officials

Published Jan. 11, 2017 12:19 p.m. ET

Nick Schwartz

LeBron James earned a technical foul during a loss Tuesday night for barking at an official, and after the game a report surfaced that James has grown frustrated with the way officials are treating him. James currently averages 7.1 free throw attempts per game, good for 10th in the league and up from 6.5 attempts per game last season, but well down from the 10.3 shots he averaged a decade ago.

According to Skip Bayless, James' unique skill set and physicality makes it difficult for referees to treat him the same way they would one of his Cavaliers teammates.

“I’ve often called it the Shaq syndrome that LeBron suffers from. He’s actually too good for his own good. He’s too big and too strong and too powerful and too quick, and he doesn’t get reffed fairly - because the refs look at him as having such an advantage when he freight-trains down the lane.

As in ‘guys just bounce off him anyway. It doesn’t seem to affect him, to affect his shot enough, so why should we call a foul on that? We’re gonna let that one go because he punished that guy as much as that guy tried to foul him.’

Over time, I think he’s had a lot of missed calls."