LeBron’s Agent Openly Suggests A Trade For The Lakers On His Podcast

The podcast medium is, among other things, an effective technology for getting people to say extremely ill-advised stuff in public. Ultra-powerful sports agents are no exception. Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports Group and longtime agent to LeBron James, said some wild shit on Monday's episode of Game Over, the podcast he launched last month with Max Kellerman.

If there's a precedent for an active agent floating trade proposals that would directly affect his clients, I have not encountered it. That's exactly what Paul did on the podcast episode, as he and Kellerman discussed roster moves for the Los Angeles Lakers, the team that employs James:

Rich Paul: The Lakers have options. If I was the Lakers, I would probably be targeting the Memphis Grizzlies as a trade partner.

Max Kellerman: For?

Paul: Jaren Jackson.

Kellerman: Yeah, that would be a great fit. For whom?

Paul: Well, that's the thing, because you gotta figure out the package. But some way, somehow, I would be trying to get Jaren Jackson, maybe get back GG Jackson—Jackson and Jackson Associates, because he's a young player that you can develop, got good size, can shoot the ball. But I think if you're building around Luka [Doncic] going forward, which they are—

Kellerman: You need a guy like that.

Paul: You need that anchor, and Jaren doesn't want to be a part of a rebuild. They just put Ja Morant on the market, right, saying they're willing to trade him, etc. [...] Now, the package just goes out, is what you have to decide. Because if you're able to trade out [expiring contracts] and give up the last first-round pick you got, that could be one scenario, right? Or you could say, let me withhold that.

Kellerman: Austin Reaves?

Paul: This comes with a very unemotional attachment, because Austin is beloved, which he should be. He's an underdog.

Kellerman: But he's about to get paid.

Paul: And here's the thing. If you really—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 right now. I love him as a Laker, but that is a situation where we get in balance, because 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, then that's kind of like riding—when you just have the training wheels on your bike, but the one training wheel is off and it kind of leans.

[...]

Paul: But that would be—regardless how it goes, whatever the package may be, that would be my target for the Lakers. So now, if you're doing that, and if I have those two pieces to start from, and I know everybody wants this to be LeBron's last year, hopefully it's not LeBron's last year, whatever that looks like going forward, that's yet to be seen. [Ed. note: This person has been LeBron James's agent for about 13 years.] But if you have those two pieces on your board, and then now I'm looking at how to fill in the rest of the blanks, that's a good starting point. Now, it doesn't guarantee you a championship tomorrow, but it gives you some building blocks.