Rumors

It has been radio silent since James, via his agent Rich Paul, attempted to rattle the Lakers' cages immediately after exercising his $52.6 million player option for this season. The all-time leading scorer and his camp understand just how complicated a trade involving him -- at his age, making that much money, with the contractual right to veto any deal -- would be. Speculation has swirled around Antetokounmpo asking out of Milwaukee for several years. If he didn't take that drastic step in the summer, it's unlikely to happen midseason.

ESPN

The next superstar to request a trade will be ...? 1. Zion Williamson: 10 votes 2. Giannis Antetokounmpo: 7 votes 3. LeBron James: 6 votes 4. Ja Morant: 1 vote 5. Trae Young: 1 vote There isn't a situation simmering this summer that seems as destined for midseason divorce as Jimmy Butler's strained marriage with the Miami Heat was last season. Williamson's stay in New Orleans might have been extended by the Pelicans' front office change, with Joe Dumars replacing David Griffin as the primary decision-maker. If Williamson can have a strong start to the season -- and avoid the injury bug that has plagued his career -- it's feasible that he could seek a fresh start instead of remaining with a New Orleans franchise that seems stuck in neutral. It has been radio silent since James, via his agent Rich Paul, attempted to rattle the Lakers' cages immediately after exercising his $52.6 million player option for this season. The all-time leading scorer and his camp understand just how complicated a trade involving him -- at his age, making that much money, with the contractual right to veto any deal -- would be.

ESPN

Shams Charania: San Antonio Spurs star De'Aaron Fox has agreed to a four-year, $229 million maximum contract extension with the franchise, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul told ESPN. The max deal secures Fox's future in San Antonio through the 2029-30 season. Kevin O’Connor: I don’t love this for the Spurs. Fox is not a max level point guard on any team, and in San Antonio he has overlapping skills with Castle and Harper. Draymond Green: Imagine the pieces you can bring in, in that salary slot, to help speed up a rebuild. One thing for certain, in the next 24 months, Fox will not be a worse player than he is today.

Threads

Dave McMenamin: "The greater question is where does LeBron stand with the Lakers. I'm told that the statement that Rich Paul gave to Shams Charania back in June when LeBron opted in still stands, that LeBron and his representatives will be monitoring the Lakers' moves that they make because they recognize that there's only a very limited amount of time left in his career and he wants to be competing for championships. Whatever time that is."

YouTube

Michael Scotto: San Antonio Spurs star guard De'Aaron Fox has agreed to a four-year, $229 million maximum contract extension, league sources told @hoopshype. The deal doesn’t include a player option nor trade kicker. Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul negotiated the deal. ESPN first to report.

Twitter

Michael Scotto: Lakers President Rob Pelinka on LeBron James retiring as a Laker: “All the interactions we've had with LeBron and his camp, Rich Paul in particular, have been very positive and supportive. If he had the chance to retire as a Laker, that would be great.”

Twitter

However, his agent, Rich Paul, dismissed these rumors. During an appearance on "The TylilShow Live," Paul said any move would have to be approved by LeBron himself due to the no-trade clause in his contract. “The man has a no-trade clause,” Paul said (timestamp 5:51 onwards). “End of story. He has a no-trade clause. It’s up to him. He has a no-trade clause. So, in the event when a player has a no-trade clause and a team wants to trade that player, that player can say no. That’s in his contract.”

SportsKeeda

[SiriusXM NBA Radio] Rich Paul: "Having him (Brandon Ingram) traded from New Orleans and then doing his deal during the season with the Raptors... He is making 40 million dollars a year for the next 3 years that probably wouldn't be there for him if we get to quote-unquote free agency."

reddit

"I think we have to start thinking that this could be his last year in the league," ESPN's Dave McMenamin said. "Rich Paul [James' agent] told me there was no extension talk, because they didn't ask for an extension. They didn't broach the subject. Now, you could say, why didn't the Lakers offer it? Sure, you could. But Paul's point to me was this wasn't a point of tension. "It's not something that they were pursuing. So I think you look at it as, yeah, there's a very limited time remaining in his career," McMenamin continued. "We kinda already knew that. We knew that, basically, since he reached 20 years in the league, he's gone into every offseason contemplating retirement."

BasketNews

Shams Charania: The Milwaukee Bucks are re-signing forward Chris Livingston on a fully guaranteed one-year, $2.3 million deal, Rich Paul and Brandon Cavanaugh of Klutch Sports tell ESPN. Livingston, the 58th pick in the 2023 NBA draft, receives a third consecutive year on a guaranteed contract.

x.com

Shams Charania: Livingston's progress this month in summer league for the Bucks helps him land a new deal -- 20 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 50% from the field and 37.5% from 3.

x.com

Rich Paul: “The way we’ve approached it, I just told LeBron, ‘Enjoy your summer.’ He’s been an unbelievable asset and example for the league since he’s arrived, an unbelievable ambassador is the word I was looking for since he arrived, and sometimes you just have to let the noise be the noise and we’re not focused on that. I don’t have any news. I don’t have anything to give. And in that conversation with Dave, that was just conversation, it wasn’t anything in terms of strategy or anything like that. It was just conversation. I mean, look, the guy’s 40 years old and playing like he’s 24.”

Twitter

Rich Paul: “I know how hard it is to get to the NBA. I know how hard it is to stay in the NBA. I know how hard it is to have consistency while being in the NBA. And, you know, it's easy for us to critique sitting behind these microphones. But the respect level for all the guys playing, and I know the respect level, obviously, for someone at LeBron's level and his tenure and all the things he's accomplished, again, you can't buy into those things. But people gotta do their job. And so we understand that and he understands that. But I think how you do things is what my focus is, and it's been class personified pretty much for the most part in any organization, and you have to remain that way.”

Twitter

Much of the tension appears to stem from the Lakers’ desire to keep their salary-cap sheet as clear as possible starting next summer, allowing them to find Luka Dončić’s future partner either in free agency or via trade, when they’ll have access to use first-round picks in 2026, 2031 and 2033 for a single trade.

New York Times