Saturday night’s shocking NBA trade that saw the Dallas Mavericks send Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers primarily for Anthony Davis sparked a lot of discussion on what was behind it. Many reporters attributed the Los Angeles side of this to Lakers’ star LeBron James, despite some others reporting he didn’t find out in advance. And someone who went particularly far there was CBS Sports NBA insider Bill Reiter, and that prompted remarkable pushback from James.
In an appearance on CBS Sports HQ with Joe Musso to discuss this trade (the full details on the players and picks involved can be found here), Reiter discussed his reporting from around last year’s trade deadline on James and Davis. Early in that clip, he says “At the time, there was talk within the Lakers’ organization that LeBron James had grown a little frustrated with Anthony Davis.” And that got made into the pullquote CBS Sports HQ posted on X, without the “little” or the context of Lakers’ sources telling Reiter that last year. And that prompted James to fire back:
You a fkn lie!!! 🤥🤡 https://t.co/EYNRUbUFmj
— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 2, 2025
After that, Reiter stood by his comments, but did suggest watching the whole video for context:
Check out the entire video to understand the context here. I stand by my reporting. https://t.co/FdFcF10JNF
— Bill Reiter (@sportsreiter) February 2, 2025
It is worth considering the context. Reiter mentions early on he hasn’t been able to reach all the sources he normally would consult given the timing of this trade, so that’s what has him bringing up reporting from last year. And after the “frustrated with Anthony Davis line,” Reiter says “It wasn’t necessarily AD was going to be traded. We obviously didn’t report that on CBS Sports. It was just ‘Hey, this is something to keep an eye on, LeBron is frustrated with AD and he doesn’t think that it’s working.’ And that’s because LeBron has very, very high expectations. And you fast-forward a year, and obviously that reporting, really that information from Lakers’ sources, was accurate.
“This was probably a slow boil, Joe. And it’s always hard to know with LeBron James. I’ve covered the guy, we’ve all watched him for years, amazing player, amazing player. He can be, um, a little inconsistent sometimes, some would say a little moody. This is something I had heard about and we’d talked about a year ago, you never know if it’s just LeBron having a bad month with AD. But obviously LeBron had made the consideration, because you’re right, this trade doesn’t happen without his absolute blessing and approval, LeBron had made the determination that his window is longer than just this season, because Luka is injured but coming back, that he doesn’t have the pieces to win in this window.”
After some further discussion of James’ window and the challenges on acquiring superstars in free agency in the new CBA, Reiter wraps this segment up with a very firm claim James approved this. He says “There is no chance, there is zero percent chance, this trade happens without LeBron at a minimum giving his approval and maybe a little bit of a shove out the door for AD.” (And yes, it appears Musso agreed with that and started that line of conversation before this clip, but Reiter certainly doubled down on it.) However, there has been other reporting, especially from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, that James didn’t learn of the trade until it happened:
LeBron James learned of the Davis-Doncic trade after the Knicks game when it broke while he was out to dinner with his family, sources close to James told ESPN. James was surprised by the news, is processing it and had no idea it was in the works, sources said.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 2, 2025
Many have been skeptical of that report from McMenamin, suggesting that there’s no way the Lakers would make a move like this without consulting James. And Reiter is certainly in that camp with his comments here. But what makes this clip particularly notable is the way he brings up his past reporting, citing Lakers’ sources who told him last year James was frustrated with Davis. The CBS Sports HQ social post perhaps took some liberties with how they relayed that, and that’s likely part of what led to this pushback from James, but Reiter certainly did say James had grown frustrated with Davis (and also claimed James signed off on this deal). And James clearly took strong exception to that, including with multiple exclamation marks.
There doesn’t seem to be a way to objectively evaluate if Reiter’s comments here were “a fkn lie” or not. If Reiter completely made up that Lakers’ sources told him last year James was frustrated with Davis, that would be a lie. But that seems unlikely, and it’s impossible for anyone other than Reiter (and potentially his editors, if they know the identity of his sources) to prove or refute that. However, Lakers’ sources telling media James was frustrated with Davis doesn’t necessarily mean James actually was frustrated with him; that’s those sources’ interpretation.
At any rate, it’s notable that James was so upset by this particular report that he went after it on social media. And that’s something we’re seeing more and more from high-profile athletes and coaches. It’s interesting seeing these figures use social media platforms (or other platforms, such as their own podcasts) to challenge media reporting and speculation, and there can be merit to that if the reporting or speculation is truly inaccurate.
But that does come with elevated stakes. This is amplifying the original take (a Streisand effect), as so many more people are going to watch this clip than a normal CBS Sports HQ clip given James quote-tweeting it, and it’s going out on a limb against the reporting there. If more emerges suggesting that Reiter was correct in relaying James’ frustration with Davis last year, or in claiming that James signed off on this move, that wouldn’t look great for James. But it is certainly notable to have him on the record blasting Reiter’s comments here.
