Report: Rich Paul ‘adamantly opposed’ LeBron going to Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
LeBron James and Steph Curry‘s Team USA pairing in the Paris Olympics this summer only intensified basketball fans’ desire for the superstar duo to team up in the NBA.
While that reality remains a long shot, it doesn’t mean there haven’t been any efforts made by the Warriors.
Golden State reportedly sought a blockbuster trade to acquire the four-time NBA MVP before last year’s trade deadline, but talks didn’t go far.
That is partly because James’ agent, Rich Paul, was “adamantly opposed” to the idea of James swapping Southern California for Northern California, NBA contributor Marc Stein reported in his latest substack, citing league sources.
Paul was hesitant about how the NBA world would perceive his client if James left Los Angeles to join a fourth team in his career.
“Sources say Paul implored both teams to scrap the concept — despite some owner-to-owner dialogue between the Warriors’ Joe Lacob and the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss and Green’s determination to lobby James to push for relocation to the Bay Area — largely because he wanted to insulate James from potential backlash over switching teams for the fourth time in his career,” Stein wrote.
Aside from Paul’s part in LeBron-to-the-Warriors quickly falling apart, any chances of that concept being any more than a basketball lover’s dream feels even more unlikely after James’ son, Bronny James, was drafted by the Lakers this summer and signed a four-year contract with the purple and gold.
And as long as Paul is still his agent, it’s become increasingly likely that James will remain with the Lakers for the rest of his career.