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LeBron James and his agent, Rich Paul, have been making noise so far this offseason, leading some to believe James wants to be traded by the Los Angeles Lakers. One NBA insider, though, does not believe that to be the case.
Almost immediately after James opted into his $52.6 million player option, signaling he would return for his record-breaking 23rd NBA season, Paul hinted to ESPN's Shams Charania that James' and the Lakers' priorities were not aligned and said that they wanted to “evaluate what's best” for James. When most players' agents say that, it usually means a trade is at least being considered.
The Ringer's Howard Beck, who has long covered the Lakers, isn't convinced that is the case this time.
“I’m not even sure he really wants to be traded, Zach,” Beck told Zach Lowe on the latter's podcast. “I ended up talking to a handful of people over the course of the last 24 hours, including a couple more follow-up conversations this morning around the league, and the general sense I’m getting from everybody is just outright cynicism or skepticism that this is actually the passive-aggressive or aggressive-aggressive trade demand, request, desire, whatever you want to call it.
“He’s mostly just venting, that this is just putting pressure on Rob Pelinka, once again, as LeBron perpetually has in LA… to do something so that I, LeBron James, do not feel like this next season and perhaps one more beyond it are spent on a team that’s on a Luka [Doncic]-based timeline in which you’re a contender two or three years from now as opposed to right now.”
Throughout James' career, but particularly after his first departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010, he has been known to use his stature in the league to apply pressure on front offices. He notably championed for the Heat to draft Shabazz Napier in 2014, only for James to depart that offseason to return to the Cavaliers.
While back in Cleveland, James, who signed three consecutive short-term deals, often reportedly used impending free agency and public comments to keep then-general manager David Griffin and team owner Dan Gilbert active in signings and trades. A year after signing with the Lakers, Los Angeles acquired Anthony Davis, a fellow client of Rich Paul and friend of James, from the New Orleans Pelicans.
The power dynamic has seemingly shifted over the past few seasons and particularly since February, when the Lakers traded for Doncic, who is nearly 15 years younger than James and has already earned five All-NBA first-team selections.
James and Doncic led the Lakers to the third seed in the Western Conference this past season but were bounced in five games in the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
