ESPN's Skip Bayless says recent MRI shows Andrew Bynum has degenerative knees

Actually woke up to some Sixers coverage on ESPN this morning. Unfortunately, the coverage constituted of more bad news about Bynum.

Check out the original piece and video of the discussion over at Philly.com:

     "On Wednesday’s episode of ESPN’s popular debate-style show, First Take, there was a segment dedicated to the 76ers, in which anchors Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless discussed the state of the franchise going forward after Tuesday evening’s embarrassing loss to Orlando. 

"I love Tim Tebow!"

At one point during the discussion, Skip Bayless, not necessarily known for his NBA connections, claimed that a source inside the Sixers organization told him that the most recent MRI on Andrew Bynum’s knees showed degeneration, meaning in effect that they will never return to full strength. 

Skip continued by explaining that Andrew may show some flashes of the dominance he displayed last season, when he averaged 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, but he will be unable to sustain it, as the knees will never be able to fully recover. 

Now, keep in mind that this is not an official report, and the fact that a popular pundit such as Bayless would be the only one with access to the information should make one somewhat skeptical. 

However, if it turned out to be true, this would be a huge revelation for the Sixers. The difficult decision looming large this summer as to whether or not they should take a chance on a big-money deal on Bynum, would be defunct; if re-signing him means five more years of knee injury issues and little (or no) production, then Bynum and the Sixers will go their separate ways."