For approximately two hours on Tuesday, the most influential people in LeBron James’ Lakers life sat inside the business offices of the team’s practice facility in El Segundo, Calif., and tried to accomplish one shared goal: Clearing the air after reports of rising tensions and power plays had dominated the NBA news cycle of late.
It was his agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and general manager Rob Pelinka in attendance. And as Paul explained to The Athletic not long after ESPN first reported about the meeting on Friday, it was high time they all got in a room to figure a few things out.
There had been more than two weeks of perceived strife between the two sides, from the Feb. 9 loss to Milwaukee that sparked multiple reports about player frustration with the roster to James’ interview with The Athletic at All-Star weekend in which his choice to discuss a possible return to Cleveland sparked questions about whether he was still happy in Laker Land. In between, with the Lakers’ choice to stand pat at the trade deadline upping the decibel level on this debate, there were myriad messages coming from James that were widely seen as passive-aggressive signs of his discontent.
But Paul strongly refuted the notion that there is any sort of divide between James and the Lakers, or that these were all signs of a grand exit plan that’s yet to come. And when the meeting was all done, one in which Paul said some of the time was even spent “laughing and catching up,” he says they all found themselves in a more productive, peaceful place.
“I just don’t think (communicating indirectly) is the right way of doing business,” Paul, who also represents the Lakers’ Anthony Davis, told The Athletic. “And I don’t think that’s who we are, who LeBron is.
