LeBron James Insists He Learned About The Warriors Trade Call When Everyone Else Did

As the trade deadline approached, LeBron James made some waves with a cryptic hourglass tweet that he left to the imagination of fans, the media, and even other teams. Naturally that led to a round of rumors about LeBron and his future with the Lakers, but despite the efforts of a few other teams, the Lakers quickly rebuffed any offers made by other teams for the 20-year vet.

The most interesting of those was the Golden State Warriors, as they apparently made an attempt to engage the Lakers in trade talks prior to the deadline to pair LeBron with his longtime rival, Stephen Curry. Those talks never made it far, but it did beg the question of how intrigued LeBron was by the possibility. He got asked that by Ernie Johnson prior to the All-Star Game on Sunday night, and insisted that he was unaware there had even been a call and he learned about it all when the reports became public.

Now, while there are countless examples of players being blindsided by trade talks, that does not particularly happen with players the caliber of LeBron James. That could mean one of two things happened in this situation. One is that the Lakers simply asked James, generally, if he was happy being in L.A. and got the confirmation they needed and quickly shut down all calls without bringing specifics to the star. The alternative is that James is not exactly being truthful here and simply doesn’t want to get into it all.

In his press conference prior to the game, LeBron did indicate that he’s “happy and [have] been very happy being a Laker the last six years, and hopefully it stays that way.” He also said he’s not sure how many more years he has left or what uniform he’ll be in when he does retire, but the end is coming soon. In any case, this summer will certainly be fascinating regarding what James chooses to do, but for now Lakers fans can feel a bit more confident about his near-term future with the team.