In a recent ESPN poll that had ten unnamed scouts and NBA executives voting, LeBron James received zero votes as the best player in the league.

Kevin Durant and Giannis Antentokounmpo were tied with 5 votes each. This year, KD had some landmark playoff performances and led Team USA to a gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Sharing the best player accolade with Durant was the Greek Freak. The Milwaukee Bucks won their 1st NBA title in over 5 decades. Giannis Antentokounmpo created history with his Finals performances, scoring 50-points in the championship-winning game.

The 2020-21 season was a rather disappointing season for King James. Beginning with his ankle injury that kept him out for a large chunk of the season, followed by his teammate Anthony Davis’ string of injuries.

The LA Lakers were ousted in the first round of the playoffs, making it James’ earliest exit from his entire postseason career.

The 4x NBA champion averaged 23.3 PPG, 8.0 APG, and 7.2 RPG in the 6 games the Lakers played in the playoffs.

Though James didn’t have a great season, it is surprising the 4x Finals MVP received zero votes in the poll. The Lakers superstar has been the face of the NBA for almost a decade and has won multiple MVPs and championships.

The following poll results made Undisputed analyst Skip Bayless’ day. A LeBron James critic since his high school days, Bayless has always been rather skeptical about the superstar being the GOAT.

In the past, the analyst has addressed James with various nicknames that include LeBrick, choker, and LeAnkle following his injury in the last season.

Recently, Bayless took to Twitter to through some shots at the King.

No surprise LeBron got zero votes in the best player poll. What exactly is he the king of? No, the surprise was that Kevin Durant didn’t get all 10 best-player votes instead of splitting with Giannis. KD outplayed Giannis head to head! #TheBestPlayerOnThePlanet

With the Lakers acquiring former MVP Russell Westbrook and scoring champion Carmelo Anthony the purple and gold team seem ready to win the chip.

Thus it will be interesting to see how dynamics change in the following 2021-22 season.