FS1’s Skip Bayless and rapper Lil Wayne are very close friends, and the way this surprising-but-budding friendship began is also a bit shocking.
Bayless, who’s 71, has made his share of enemies throughout his long-tenured career in sports.
Lil Wayne, who’s 30 years Bayless’ junior, is universally recognized as one of the best emcees to ever grace a microphone. But how these two from totally different walks of life became friends is wild but in other ways kind of wholesome.
It began in 2008 when Bayless was starring on ESPN’s “First Take.” Wayne frequented the hit debate show and to Bayless showed a wealth of sports knowledge that the “hot take” didn’t know he had. At that time they bonded over their love for then Davidson Wildcats star Steph Curry.
In fact, that is what began a now 15-year bond that has turned into working together on FS1’s “Undisputed.” Bayless even had the “Go DJ” rapper do a song for the relaunch of the show in late August.
Wardell Steph Curry Played Vital In Unintended Friendship
Bayless and “Weezy” first met in 2009 at the ESPN studios in Bristol prior to that year’s NBA draft, and, just like the rest of the country, they were both fans of and intrigued by Steph Curry, the Davidson sniper who’d just showed out in the NCAA Tournament, leading the Wildcats to the Elite Eight and within one missed shot of the Final Four.
During a recent interview with GQ, the two talked about where it began, with Bayless saying, “I knew your work, but I didn’t know you, and I didn’t know your depth of sports knowledge! But we’re coming up to Steph Curry’s draft, and I was a Steph Curry fan at Davidson.”
“You shocked me, in a good way, because you said you would take Steph over Blake Griffin!” Bayless added. “Everybody at ESPN was head over heels with Blake Griffin because he could jump out the gym.”
Bayless added, “That was the first time I said, ‘Woo, you know your stuff!’ The point is — they say I don’t suffer fools, I can’t talk sports with many people — he was the one person in the world that I would choose to talk sports or life with. It started to take shape that day.”
Strong words from Bayless about his good friend Lil Wayne.
Bayless Added The Cash Money/Young Money Rapper To Show
Not only did Bayless have Wayne do the new theme song for the relaunch of “Undisputed,” he also put him on as a regular. Right now, Wayne appears on the show on Friday to talk about the upcoming NFL weekend.
He joins the likes of former NFL stars Michael Irvin, Richard Sherman and Keyshawn Johnson. Longtime NBA reporter and insider Rachel Nichols is also a part of Bayless’ new show without Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe who left in June after seven years.
Sharpe has joined Bayless’ good friend Stephen A. Smith on “First Take.”
