A recent report on ESPN that said the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers tried to trade for LeBron James prior to the trade deadline caused a bit of a stir. In particular, the Warriors made a concerted effort to land the 39-year-old superstar.
According to the report, Warriors owner Joe Lacob contacted Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss to see if James had any desire to be traded. In the end, Rich Paul, James’ agent, told Lacob that the four-time MVP wasn’t going anywhere.
In addition, Warriors forward Draymond Green, who is apparently friends with James, also reached out to Paul, who is also his agent, to try to facilitate a trade that would’ve landed James in Golden State.
The league’s all-time leading scorer was asked about the trade attempt on Sunday, and he claimed he heard about it “when everyone else heard about it” (at 3:55).
“It didn’t go far at all. I actually heard about when everyone else heard about it,” James said “Obviously, sometimes there’s conversations that happen behind closed doors that you don’t even know about. Until, I guess, if it’s real or not, they’ll bring it to you. But it never even got to me. I heard it when the reports dropped as well.”
Given that his agent was contacted, it is hard to take what James said at face value. But the reality is he wasn’t traded and didn’t want to be traded, and he will still be a member of the Lakers for at least the rest of this season.