LeBron James Rebuffs Reporter Prying About Lakers Trade: 'Ain’t Got Nothing To Talk About'

The Lakers are seemingly over and done with the LeBron James era by the looks of it. The four-time NBA champion opted in to the $52.6 million guaranteed he had on the table ahead of free agency. James wants the team to make more moves to allow them to contend with Luka Doncic and him on the roster. But there are precious few avenues for them to do this, given the assets that the Lakers have.

LeBron James had the opportunity to walk away from the situation by opting out of the second year of his 1+1 deal. He could also have helped GM Rob Pelinka by opting out and re-signing for a lower cap amount, allowing the team to add more talent. After all, James is worth $1.2 billion on the Forbes list, richer than even his owner, Jeanie Buss, by a considerable amount. He definitely doesn’t need the supermax contract money.

His agent, Rich Paul, went on ESPN to talk about the Lakers’ priorities and mentioned how James is now down on the pecking order to Luka Doncic. This fanned the flames of the divide between him and Pelinka further. Amidst all this, a video of his wife, Savannah James, imploring him to retire after 2025-26 has also surfaced. This also cuts off teams that could trade for King James, given the uncertainty and the asking price.

Overall, there seems to be a tone of finality in how the situation around James and the Lakers currently sounds. The ESPN broadcast team at the Las Vegas Summer League game between the Lakers and the Pelicans discussed this for over three minutes at a stretch, often overshadowing the actual action that unfolded in front of them. They also revealed that they had invited LeBron James to chip in, but were rebuffed:

I asked LeBron just before tipoff if he’d like to join the broadcast to discuss everything, and he told me quote ‘I ain’t got nothing to talk about’, guys.