Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless reignite LeBron James feud

Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless reunited on ESPN's "First Take" on Thursday morning.

It was the first time the two had shared the same set in nearly a decade.

And within minutes, they were locked in a heated argument about LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The question Smith posed was straightforward: Are the Lakers better off without LeBron James?

"Isn't that obvious to you?" Bayless shot back.

"No!" Smith replied.

Bayless then laid out his case.

He argued that Luka Doncic had grown frustrated with sharing the spotlight with James as the veteran superstar entered his 40s.

"I believe that Luka Doncic got sick and tired of having to share the stage with a LeBron James who couldn't live up to being LeBron James anymore, as he hit 40 years of old," Bayless said.

Smith responded by putting his hand over his face and saying, "Oh my god."

Bayless continued, praising Doncic for improving his conditioning and defense over the years.

He suggested that the Lakers are now better positioned to build around Doncic.

"Now the stage has been cleared of a LeBron James who, I've gotta say this, his LA tenure was completely overrated," Bayless added.

Smith disagreed with that assessment entirely.

The two went back and forth, bringing back the familiar arguments that defined their years together on ESPN.

Smith and Bayless worked together on "First Take" for four years before Bayless departed for Fox Sports in 2016.

Their on-air chemistry — often combative, always compelling — became the template for sports debate television.

Since Bayless left, the two have occasionally traded barbs from a distance, but Thursday marked their first face-to-face confrontation in years.

The debate about whether the Lakers are indeed better off without James will likely continue throughout this season.

James now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers, having left Los Angeles in the offseason.

The 76ers also added Jaylen Brown in a blockbuster summer, vaulting themselves into contender status in the Eastern Conference.

Philadelphia has gotten off to an 8-1 start to the season.

Joel Embiid, the longest-tenured player on the roster, has played in seven of those games at a little over 33 minutes per game.

He has been averaging 19.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists with splits of 41.3 percent shooting from the field, 11.5 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 88 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Smith has publicly stated that if Embiid is at 70-75 percent health by playoff time, the 76ers will win the championship.

But the reunion of Smith and Bayless on Thursday was about more than just the 76ers.