For most of LeBron James’ 23-year NBA career, there’s been a prevailing thought that he’s not only been the star player, he’s also the front office puppet master pulling the strings behind the scenes when it comes to roster and coaching decisions.
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Fans have expressed doubt, for instance, that LeBron really didn’t have anything to do with the trade that sent Anthony Davis to Dallas and brought Luka Doncic to L.A. They’ve also believed that he was the driving force behind the Cavaliers getting rid of David Blatt back in the day, and in the Lakers, hiring his friend and podcast partner JJ Redick.
There’s no denying that LeBron has had more clout than any other player for most, if not all, of his career. But his longtime agent Rich Paul said on his new podcast, Game Over, that LeBron’s power only extended so far, at least when it came to the Cavs re-signing Tristan Thompson to an unbelievable $82 million contract in 2015.
“You wouldn’t have said Tristan Thompson was at the same level of the top bigs in the league,” Paul said, “but he got paid because of what he embraced his role to be.”
After Paul’s cohost Max Kellerman rebutted, “Well people would argue he got paid because LeBron James gave him leverage,” Paul quickly moved to shut that down. “That’s b*******, and here’s why I call b******* on that,” Paul said.
“That’s a cop-out, and people wanna say that to discredit me, first and foremost … The fact of the matter was, they were in a tax, they drafted him No. 4. If you asked Tyronn Lue who he wanted on the floor when you needed to win, if you have a big that you can switch 1-5, and he may not necessarily stop a guy, but he makes it hard on a guy, that’s great,” he added.
“When you have a big that knows how to hold a screen just long enough for that guy to either get around it or for the defense to be in such a frenzy that now when he slips and that guy makes that pocket pass, it’s too late for this other guy to move over, so that’s a dunk. These are things that don’t show up in the stat sheet. Now, also, you can’t replace him,” Paul explained.
This is some real revisionist history from Paul, and it’s worrisome for the sake of this new podcast that it’s already veering into PR spin mode.
To argue that Tristan Thompson got $82 million because he could set good screens and not stop guys on defense, but at least make it tough on them, is a bit out there to say the least..
NBA teams gave out a lot of head-scratching contracts back in those days, but it was well known around the league that Thompson got paid because LeBron campaigned for the Cavs to keep him.
The Cavs wanted to keep LeBron happy like when they traded No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love when he returned to Cleveland after LeBron didn’t mention the former Kansas forward in the letter he penned for Sports Illustrated.
For Paul to basically say, “Ask Ty Lue” when Lue himself is a Klutch client is a tad dishonest.
The Ringer has no shortage of good podcasts, but for Game Over to break through and hit with audiences, it can’t feel like one of its hosts has an ulterior motive whenever he speaks.
Paul is one of the people most capable of giving fans a glimpse behind the NBA curtain, but it has to feel authentic.
