LeBron James Immediately Shot Down A Report He Had ‘Grown Frustrated’ With Anthony Davis

At 11 p.m. ET, the biggest story of the night involving the Los Angeles Lakers was a big win over the New York Knicks in a national showcase game on ABC. LeBron James had a spectacular showing with 33 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds, while the Lakers put forth one of their most inspiring defensive efforts of the seasons despite the absence of Anthony Davis.

After the game, there was optimism about what this Lakers group could look like once Davis is back healthy if they can find that kind of level on both ends of the floor. An hour later, Davis was shipped to Dallas in the most shocking trade arguably in NBA history, with Luka Doncic now suddenly a Laker. The immediate question from everyone was: Why would Dallas do this? After early speculation of a stealth trade request was shut down, we learned the Mavs had simply decided they didn’t want to pay Doncic when he becomes extension eligible this summer for a record-setting supermax deal due to “constant conditioning issues.”

There was less confusion about why the Lakers would do this, as you’d be hard pressed to find many teams that would’ve said no to a similar trade offer that would bring back Doncic. Still, trading Davis is a big deal and the Lakers already thin frontcourt is now even thinner and even if they go find reinforcements by Thursday, they won’t bring back an All-Star and DPOY candidate like Davis. That led to some to posit Davis and James were no longer as close as they once were, with CBS Sports’ Bill Reiter suggesting James had “grown frustrated” with his co-star.

LeBron, who had not said anything about the trade prior, took to Twitter to swiftly shut that down in what is, to this point, the only public statement he’s made about anything regarding the trade.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, LeBron learned about the trade at the same time everyone else did, which is wild if true, but also might have to be the case given there wasn’t even a peep about this being a possibility before it broke. It is going to be fascinating to see what LeBron’s eventual statement on the actual trade is, as this was both a no-brainer move from the Lakers for their long-term outlook and also a deal that creates even more roster imbalance for this current season. For now, LeBron wanted to shut down any talk that he played a role in the Lakers looking to move Davis. We’ll find out by late Thursday what the Lakers roster will look like for the stretch run and what other moves they have up their sleeve, but there’s no shortage of drama in L.A. and the NBA this week.