LeBron James distances himself from Rich Paul's incendiary comments

It hasn't been two months since agent Rich Paul and Max Kellerman teamed up to release a podcast, and they've already sent shockwaves through the league.

In a span of weeks, Paul has already said that the Los Angeles Lakers aren't championship contenders, that Luka Doncic doesn't have to play defense and that they should trade Austin Reaves.

Of course, plenty of people believe those comments are coming from his lifelong friend and most famous client, LeBron James.

That's why the four-time NBA champion had to clear the air on the matter, and he distanced himself from his agent.

LeBron James says Rich Paul is his own man

"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 said, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. "And I hope people know that. I hope people know that and if they're not sensible to know that, then I don't know what to tell them."

Phil Jackson used to leak some stuff to the media when he wanted to send his teams a message.

For years, James has been rumored to pull the strings behind closed doors to get multiple players traded, including those closest to him. And, with Paul being such a cerebral negotiator and one of the closest members of James' inner circle, it's hard to believe James' stance.

Then again, he doubled down on that approach by stating that Austin Reaves knew how he felt about him. More than that, he believes there's no reason why Paul's comments should be tied to him at all.

LeBron James has Austin Reaves' Back

"AR knows how I feel about him," James said. "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--- they want to say and it shouldn't reflect somebody else is saying it."

At the end of the day, this is as clear a conflict of interest as we'll ever see. James may or may not have anything to do with what his agent is saying, but the optics aren't great. 

And even if James is telling the truth, his agent isn't doing him any favors by pushing those narratives about his team.