After some rumors and speculation that the Los Angeles Lakers were looking to move LeBron James ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline, his agent Rich Paul made it clear that the superstar will not be traded, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
“LeBron won't be traded, and we aren't asking to be,” Rich Paul said, via Windhorst.
After a report on Thursday indicating that the Lakers were going to move LeBron James, it has been firmly shut down by his agent.
James might have contributed to the noise and speculation by posting an hourglass emoji on his X account after the Lakers' loss to the Atlanta Hawks. However, the next thing James posted on his account was the announcement of his partnership with DraftKings, so the hourglass post might have been in reference to that.
Regardless of James' intentions with the hourglass post, it seems that both him and the Lakers plan on being together and trying to win past the NBA Trade Deadline. Los Angeles moved to 25-25 overall with a 114-105 win over the Boston Celtics on the road last night, without James or Anthony Davis in the lineup.
The Lakers moved to ninth in the Western Conference, and they are trying to gain ground on other Western Conference teams to get firmly into the playoffs. As of now, they would be in the play-in tournament.
Coming up next is a tough test on the road against the New York Knicks on Saturday, arguably the hottest team in the league since acquiring OG Anunoby from the Toronto Raptors.
It will be interesting to see how James and the Lakers fare against the Knicks at MSG on Saturday night.