The NBA world was set ablaze for a few moments on Monday as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported that LeBron James had pushed Cavs’ management to trade Kevin Love for Carmelo Anthony. It was not an unbelievable report; James has been known to be persuasive in personnel decisions and Love for Melo rumors have circled around the Cavs for three years.
As it turns out, that report was shot down quickly by the likes of NBA.com’s David Aldridge and the Cavs’ organization.
FWIW: league source pushes back on report re: LeBron James wanting Carmelo Anthony even if it includes Kevin Love: "totally untrue."
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) February 7, 2017
Ty Lue on the trade rumors: "Kevin (Love) should be happy that teams want him, but he's not going anywhere"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 7, 2017
After the game, James himself was asked about the report and he did not mince words:
“I saw that and I heard about it. It’s trash. And the guy who wrote it is trash too for writing that especially during the game like that. (Note: the original report was written well before the Cavs’ win over the Wizards) It’s always about outside news and that’s just outside news for us. We need to focus on what needs to get done for us to continue to compete for a championship. We got who we got. Our GM would do a great job of figuring out if we need something else but right now, we’re in a good place.”
LeBron is certainly no stranger to strong quotes about the media. He recently bashed Charles Barkley after the latter questioned LeBron’s competitiveness.
This time, James is seemingly adamant about crushing any alternative facts about the Cavaliers. The team has had some struggles lately and need to get back on the right track. Ensuring that Love knows he is wanted in Cleveland is a good way to start.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about LeBron James recently, it’s that he will protect his reputation and his teammates as he sees fit. He did a little bit of both on Monday.
