LeBron distances himself from agent's proposal to trade Reaves

LeBron James distanced himself from his agent, Rich Paul, after the Klutch Sports CEO suggested that the Los Angeles Lakers should trade Austin Reaves for Memphis Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr.

"I think you all know by now, Rich is his own man and what Rich says is not a direct reflection of me and how I feel," James told ESPN's Dave McMenamin following Tuesday's victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

"I hope people know that, and if they're not sensible to know that, then I don't know what to tell them."

Paul floated the trade scenario on a recent episode of his podcast "Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul."

The high-profile sports agent proposed sending Reaves, expiring contracts, and a 2031 or 2032 first-round pick to Memphis for Jackson and GG Jackson.

Reaves is widely expected to decline his $14.9-million player option for 2026-27. He's eligible for a five-year, $241-million max contract extension this summer.

"If you're building around Luka (Doncic) going forward, which they are, you need that anchor," Paul said. "And Jaren doesn't want to be a part of a rebuild."

Paul added: "There's a world where you can do what's best for your team, and do what's best for Austin. Because Austin deserves to get paid. ... If you put all the money into just the backcourt, and then your flexibility is restricted going forward to fill out the rest of the team."

One of Reaves' agents approached Paul during halftime of Tuesday's contest and spoke for more than five minutes about the latter's podcast comments on the Lakers guard, sources told McMenamin.

James maintains that his relationship with Reaves hasn't changed.

"AR knows how I feel about him," James told McMenamin. "All you got to do is look at us on the bench. Me and AR talk every single day. So, AR knows how I feel about him, and I hope AR - or his camp - don't look at me and think this is words from me are coming through Rich.

"Rich has his perspective of what he sees, I have my perspective. I'm a grown man, he's a grown man, and I think people should realize that grown men can say whatever the f--k they want to say, and it shouldn't reflect somebody else is saying it."