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Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 11:26 am
by RealGM Wiretap

Rich Paul gave advance notice to both the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James' teammates before releasing a statement about James' championship aspirations alongside news that the superstar was exercising his $52.6 million player option for the 2025-26 season. Paul's comments immediately sparked speculation that James could be exploring a potential trade from the Lakers, though rival teams were caught off guard by the development and had no prior indication such a move was being considered.


"I have been told by Rich he made it very well known to Luka and his representation, as well as the Lakers that these statements were coming," said Brian Windhorst on Monday's episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast. "That this was done on a fully professional level and there is nothing meant to surprise anybody.


"Speaking of surprising, however, hen this statement came out, I began to call teams. And I don't want to get into the who and what and who I talked to, but let's just say I identified the handful of teams that I could see LeBron trying to be traded to. I'm not going to talk about which teams I talked to, but I did not find a team who was prepared for this. In other words, all of them that I talked to, I didn't talk to 29 teams, I talked to a handful of teams and they were all caught flat-footed by this."


The Cleveland Cavaliers, who have been linked with a potential James return at various times, were conducting offseason business such as trading for Lonzo Ball and re-signing Sam Merrill that would be highly unlikely to be compatible with exploring a trade for James.


"I think the important thing is the Cavs were making trades and signing players to contract extensions on Saturday," added Windhorst. "They were not preparing to try to trade for LeBron on Sunday."


Windhorst also spoke with the agents of multiple players in the league who could theoretically be traded for James straight up.


"I also talked to agents of players and again I'm not looking for aggregation here—but there's a few players in the league you can trade LeBron for in a one-on-one scenario and I've talked to some of those agents and they in some cases talked to the teams of their players' teams and I've found nothing indicating there was anything afoot here. In terms of a transaction, in terms of a trade."


Windhorst also spoke with Paul on Sunday evening with James' agent standing by his statements. 


"LeBron is very very likely not getting traded," concluded Windhorst.

Via Brian Windhorst/ESPN


Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 1:14 pm
by t-rexCity
What kind of a story is this? The only person he talked to is Rich Paul. That's what the article says. He spoke to whole lot of teams but he's not going to name them lol what..why not? Isn't it his day job to report on those type of things. It's like saying I have a rabbit in this magic hat but I won't pull it out. Just makes zero sense. And I still don't understand what this article is all about. LeBron wants a trade? So him exercising his option means he wants a trade? Lol

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 1:21 pm
by donaldtrump_00
Sounds to me like Bron doing what he's always done. Waiting for a team with great young talent and crying to jump ship to put himself high on the championship pole. He's no goat. All he does is stack the deck. He's incapable of winning a ring without a boat load of talented players. Even if he returns to cavs he's going to be the reason they lose. He probably does want to retire a cav but why now when there better off without him

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 1:29 pm
by Barcs
Does anybody even care?? The only thing surprising here is that Lebron opted in instead of opting out and asking for more money like usual.

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 2:06 pm
by Dubs23
But I thought championships dont matter? Why is he ring chasing if it doesnt matter?

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 3:01 pm
by WiggOuts
typical lebron doing his weirdo **** thinking theyre so much smarter than everyone else and no one knows what theyre doing lol

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 3:47 pm
by Kingsway_fan
No one gives a sh it what Lebron says or wants...

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 3:58 pm
by the_process
He's going back to CLE.

The East is there for the taking.

Everyone is going to say CLE overpaid.

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 4:11 pm
by balrog27
Someone explain? Why lebron exercising his player option mean he could potentially be traded?

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 4:22 pm
by pushfloater
Who wants 50m, 41 year old for 1-2 years? Cmon man don’t be premadonna on the way out

Re: Rich Paul Gave Lakers, Luka Doncic Advanced Notice On LeBron Statement, Rest Of NBA Surprised

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 4:33 pm
by dubbmotta
As a Lakers Fan, I'm tired of Bron. Time to move on and build around Luka.