Rich Paul adds ‘four teams' twist to LeBron James-Lakers trade speculation
A few teams have already reached out him about a possible deal, James' agent and the CEO of Klutch Sports told ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
'He told me that he has not had any discussion with the Lakers about wanting a trade…,' McMenamin said Monday night. 'He did say that four teams have contacted him in the last 24 hours wanting to talk trades, but Rich didn't have any substantive conversations with those teams, either.'
4 Lakers superstar LeBron James.
NBAE via Getty Images
The four teams that reached out to Paul were not named.
It appears that any trade talks will come after the Lakers assemble their roster in free agency to allow James' camp to better asses the talent around him.
'Right now, LeBron is focused on playing on a championship-caliber roster,' McMenamin said. 'Rich told me there's no guarantees in building a championship-caliber roster, but we know what it looks like and it doesn't look like and we'll see in a week from now, when (Lakers general manager) Rob Pelinka's finished doing his work with this roster, even it looks like a winning, realistic situation.'
But even if the Lakers are unable to do that, ESPN's Brian Windhorst believes that a trade for the superstar is highly unlikely.
4 Rich Paul in 2020.
AP
4 Lakers GM Rob Pelinka.
AP
'I do not think LeBron James is going to be traded,' Windhorst said on ESPN's 'Get Up' on Monday. 'Neither today or tomorrow or in a month or in three months.'
Windhorst pointed out that the superstar forward is already making a ton of money — $52.6 million for the 2025-26 season — which is hard to fit into a competing team's salary cap.
Additionally, James has a no-trade clause, allowing him to be very selective about where he wants to go and making it more challenging for the Lakers to secure a good return.
With those factors stacked against the Lakers, it is understandable why a trade seems highly improbable.
Windhorst also reported that the Lakers are targeting a center to bolster their starting five and he believes DeAndre Ayton is a fit after the Blazers waived him.
The ball is now in Pelinka's court. Can he keep the star from Akron a Laker?
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