Back in the early stages of February, news leaked that Anthony Davis wanted out of New Orleans and that his premiere destination would be the Los Angeles Lakers. Davis and Lakers superstar LeBron James are good friends and share an agent in Rich Paul. This relationship led some to believe that there was some tampering involved when it came to all of the rumors that leaked. According to a new report from Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss suspected Paul was behind many of the leaks. The report states that Buss even thought about trading James to rid the team of Paul's presence.
Per Bleacher Report:
"The subject of moving James, however, was contemplated by the Lakers, a team source said, weeks before Van Gundy aired it. When rumors engulfed the team at the February trade deadline that it was willing to trade anyone other than James to acquire All-Star forward Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans, James’ agent, Rich Paul, was widely accused of spreading those rumors because Davis is also one of his clients."
In the report, Bucher acknowledges that Paul is adamant he never leaked any information and that he reached out to Buss to make that clear. Obviously, that conversation paid off because LeBron is still a member of the Lakers.
Regardless, it's been a tumultuous season in Los Angeles to say the least.