Rich Paul Breaks Silence on LeBron James’ Reported Trade Request to Lakers originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Los Angeles Lakers are building their roster around Luka Doncic and LeBron James. However, they haven’t made a lot of moves in the offseason, and it looks like they’re preserving their cap space for the future.
There has been plenty of speculation regarding LeBron James and a potential trade, since the Lakers didn’t give him a contract extension and Rich Paul, his agent, teased a potential move if the team didn’t make big-time improvements to their roster.
With that in mind, ESPN insider Dave McMenamin reached out to Paul to get to the bottom of the story. Notably, the Klutch Sports CEO shut down the notion of any trade request, both now and in the future:
“Rich Paul told me that they never asked for one (extension). Paul also made it clear to me that LeBron has not asked for a trade,” McMenamin reported. “And Paul hasn’t even discussed the possibility of wanting a trade in the future with the Lakers. Paul did tell me that four teams contacted him with interest in trading for LeBron. So now we wait.”
With LeBron James at the Lakers game tonight, I asked him if he would like to speak to me about his future with the franchise. “I ain’t got nothing to talk about,” he said. My report for ESPN from Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/sFRgCYHmqw
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) July 13, 2025
Of course, that doesn’t mean the Lakers won’t consider moving on from the four-time NBA champion, but James has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he would have to be on board with any potential move.
McMenamin tried to get James’ comments on the situation, but James, who was in attendance at the Lakers’ Summer League game in Las Vegas, didn’t have anything to say:
“Now, I asked LeBron just before tip-off if he’d like to join the broadcast to discuss everything, and he told me, quote, ‘I ain’t got nothing to talk about, guys,’” McMenamin added.
As McMenamin said, multiple teams are already keeping tabs on James and this situation. And while he hasn’t requested to be traded yet, we’ve seen how drastically things can change in the NBA.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 13, 2025, where it first appeared.