LeBron distances himself from agent's teammate jab

In what might be a career-first, LeBron James distanced himself from comments made by his agent Rich Paul, who said the Los Angeles Lakers should trade fan favourite and James' teammate Austin Reaves.

Paul, on a recent episode of his podcast Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul, said the Lakers should swap Reaves to the Memphis Grizzlies for two-time All-Star big man Jaren Jackson Jr.

Those comments lit a fire under Reaves' representatives, with one of them — Reggie Berry of AMR Agency — confronting Paul during halftime of the Lakers' lopsided victory over the Hawks on Wednesday, according to ESPN.

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Speaking after the match, James chose to separate himself from Paul's analysis of the Lakers trade situation, while expressing support for Reaves.

"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 told ESPN after the Lakers' 141-116 win over Atlanta.

"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."

He added: "AR (Reaves) knows how I feel about him. 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 realise that grown men can say whatever the f--- they want to say and it shouldn't reflect somebody else is saying it."

James said he did not speak to his long-time friend Paul about his decision to enter the media space before the podcast launched last month.

"Rich, that's what he's doing. That's his whole thing. That's what he's doing. That's what he's talking about, but I have zero conversations about what his topics are going to be or what they are going to talk about. He is his own man and that is his platform."

It's not the first time Paul has ruffled feathers when expressing his opinion about the state of the Lakers.

In December, he said the Lakers were "not championship contenders", in what most insiders perceived as a call for urgency for those running the team.

It's understood his comments about Reaves were also viewed as another call to action.

"This comes with a very unemotional attachment because Austin is beloved, which he should be, he's an underdog," Paul said.

"There's a world where you can do what's best for your team, and do what's best for Austin. Because Austin deserves to get paid. Now, I love him as a Laker, but if that was a situation where we're getting balance - because if you put all the money into just the backcourt and then your flexibility is restricted going forward to fill out the rest of the team.

"Memphis would definitely pay Austin," Paul added. "He would become probably their point guard and leading scorer, for sure. But definitely their highest-paid player."

Paul's remarks come as a surprise to most in the NBA, because Paul is usually one who works in the shadows, like most agents.

His move into media has taken some by surprise and left questioning the motives behind such a decision.

Some view it as Paul looking for a bigger platform to move the chess pieces where he wants them, while there's also a school of thought that Paul might be setting himself up for a career change once James retires from the NBA.