After Rich Paul, LeBron James’ longtime agent, suggested this week that the Los Angeles Lakers should trade Austin Reaves to the Memphis Grizzlies for big man Jaren Jackson Jr., he faced lots of criticism from some people. In the minds of those people, James possibly fed him that trade suggestion and may have a bit of a rift with Reaves, although there is no evidence of either.
During the Lakers’ 141-116 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, James insisted that Paul’s trade suggestion was Paul’s idea only and not his, and one of Reaves’ agents, Reggie Berry, also had a chat with Paul. Paul then went on his “Game Over” podcast to try to clear up any misconceptions anyone may have about his trade suggestion.
“We talked about it and I’m like, ‘Look Reg, you’re my man. I want Austin to know, this is not about Austin Reaves because, one, I love the player, love the person. Two, I actually need him to help me with my golf game. I’m not trying to mess up anything with AR.’ … This was a hypothetical conversation we were having — if I was running a team, not this is what’s going to happen. Secondly, I believe it’s very complementary to AR because he’s on a team with two future Hall of Famers and he happens to be the asset.”
Regardless of the reason or rationale behind Paul’s suggestion, in all likelihood, it will never see the light of day. In fact, any trade involving Reaves seems extremely unlikely given the Lakers’ steadfast refusal to even consider including him in trade talks over the last couple of years.
Reaves has responded to the great value the organization has assigned to him by raising his production each season. So far this season, he’s averaging 26.6 points and 6.3 assists a game while shooting 50.7% from the field and 36.5% from 3-point range. He’s currently out with a gastrocnemius strain that has caused him to miss L.A.’s last nine games, and just prior to that, he missed three more games with a calf strain.
The team went 6-6 in those games, which shows how valuable he is.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Rich Paul follows up on his Austin Reaves trade idea
