In a recent ESPN report, Dave McMenamin recounted a 127-113 win by the Los Angeles Lakers over the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 31. It was their 16th win in their last 18 games, and a number of individual milestones were reached during this victory.
During that game, Luka Doncic went over 15,000 career points, and Rui Hachimura reached 5,000 career points. It was the 100th coaching victory for Lakers coach JJ Redick, and for LeBron James, it was his 1,229th career win. That meant James had surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most combined regular-season and playoff wins in NBA history.
According to McMenamin, when general manager Rob Pelinka awarded the game ball to Redick after that contest, James interpreted it “as yet another example of the Lakers taking him for granted.” Rich Paul, James’ longtime friend and agent, pushed back on that report and what it suggested.
“I think people are reading too much into whether it was a signed ball or anything,” Paul said on his “Game Over” podcast. “I’ve never in my life seen LeBron get disgruntled about a basketball or some type of accolade. I can’t tell you how many player of the week, player of the month, MVPs, gold medal, trophies dating back to 1992. This man got so many awards. Another basketball?”
One reason why this story has been talked about as much as it has is the fact that James is about to become a free agent this summer and that there is a distinct possibility that he will leave the Lakers. While he remains a superstar-level player, the Lakers may not offer him a max or near-max salary simply because they have other free agents they want to retain, as well as probably at least one outside free agent they will want to pursue.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Rich Paul downplays report about LeBron being upset over game ball
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
