Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James was livid in the aftermath of the massive blockbuster trade that saw Anthony Davis going to the Dallas Mavericks for Luka Dončić.
But it’s not because he was blindsided by it. He was furious because of CBS’ NBA insider Bill Reiter’s report, which suggested he had a hand in Davis, his close friend, getting traded.
“You a [expletive] lie!!! 🤥🤡 ” James wrote on X, refuting the report.
“So, I have not been able to reach every source you would like to as this breaking news story. So Joe [Musso], I’m going to tell you something that was true a year ago, but I think it is pertinent now,” Reiter reported. “And I remember I talked to you about this on CBS Sports HQ last year at the trade deadline, Lakers fans got very angry, but at the time, there was talk within the Lakers organization that LeBron James had grown a little frustrated with Anthony Davis.
“It wasn’t that necessary [Davis] was going to be traded. We obviously didn’t report that on CBS boards. It was just, ‘Hey, there’s something to keep an eye on.’ LeBron is frustrated with [Davis]. He doesn’t think that it’s working, and that’s because LeBron has very, very high expectations. And you fast forward a year later. Obviously, that reporting, really, that information from Lakers sources, was accurate.”
Reiter stood by his reporting.
“Check out the entire video to understand the context here. I stand by my reporting,” he wrote on X in response to James’ reaction.
LeBron James ‘Still Processing’ the Trade
James was just coming off a 37-point triple-double performance in the Lakers’ 128-112 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden when the trade was agreed upon.
He even talked about how they collectively had to exert more effort in the win without Davis, who is nursing an abdominal muscle strain.
“There’s no way we can make up for [Davis] absence,” James told reporters after the Lakers’ win on Friday, Feb. 1. “There’s no way especially defensively, offensively. He’s our best player so we all have to figure out how to do a little bit more and I think tonight we did that.”
Little did he know it will be the last time he’ll referenced to Davis as his Lakers teammate. A dozen minutes past Friday midnight, Charania dropped the bombshell of a news of the most stunning trade in NBA history.
James was as stunned as Dončić and everyone else, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“LeBron James learned of the Davis-Doncic trade after the Knicks game when it broke while he was out to dinner with his family, sources close to James told ESPN,” McMenamin wrote on X. “James was surprised by the news, is processing it and had no idea it was in the works, sources said.”
Lakers See Luka Dončić as the Next ‘Face of Their Franchise’
The Lakers did not pass up on the opportunity to acquire James’ heir apparent.
James, 40, is on the tail-end of his career, and the Lakers view Dončić as his successor as the face of the franchise.
“The Mavericks approached the Lakers recently and offered Luka Doncic,” Charania wrote on X. “Lakers brass met and believed the 25-year-old Doncic has the ability to be the face of their franchise for the next decade while giving Anthony Davis a win-now move in Dallas.”
Dončić, 25, is a perennial All-Star and All-NBA player who was just coming off his first NBA Finals appearance with the Mavericks last season.
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