The Lakers’ offseason has already taken an ugly turn as uncertainty looms over LeBron James’ future and the 41-year-old veteran turns into an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Bill Reiter, an NBA writer and radio show host, suggested that there is tension between LeBron James and Luka Doncic, and apparently, James is not very fond of the Slovenian superstar.
“I think that LeBron and Luka don’t get along very well; in fact, I know that they don’t get along very well. First of all, I love LeBron, and I have to qualify this because sometimes he loves me, sometimes he tolerates me, and sometimes he hates me, and we’re in the hate phase now on that side of the equation, but I respect the hell out of him.”
“He doesn’t do well in a toxic locker room. He doesn’t do well when he’s a part of that toxicity. And I’ve covered LeBron a lot more than Luka, so I can’t speak to the degree to which it’s Luka Doncic’s problem or if he’s the cause of it. But LeBron wants to be the guy, and Luka wants to be the guy,” said Reiter on 92.3 The Fan radio show.
“I think LeBron’s put on a good face over the last few months. He can obviously still play at a very high level. I just don’t think they fit together, and I don’t think they get along.”
“When LeBron is unhappy with people in his locker room, it is awkward, it is weird, and it does not go well. He’s the Sun, right? The physics of any locker room that he’s a part of bends to LeBron’s will. In a good way when he’s happy, and in a bad way when he’s not. I don’t think it’s a good locker room in LA.”
“I would imagine keeping in mind his love for Akron and Ohio, that being in Cleveland with James Harden, who he’s close to, with Donovan Mitchell… I just think it would be a happier place for LeBron as a basketball player. And we know that when LeBron is happy, things go well, but when LeBron is not happy, things go very badly,” Reiter concluded.
However, according to two credible sources, Dan Woike, the Lakers’ senior writer for The Athletic, and Brett Siegel, the NBA insider for Clutchpoints, there is no substance to this report.
“This is not accurate,” wrote Woike on X when he read an aggregation of this report.
“Luka Doncic and LeBron James are very close,” Siegel further disputed on X as well.
A concerning report has already suggested that LeBron James believes the Lakers’ front office took him for granted this season and could be headed towards an exit from Los Angeles. There are reports that the relationship between the Lakers and LeBron James is strained, and now it seems that reporters are getting in on it to add fuel to the fire.
As Reiter himself said, James does not really like him and is in the ‘hate phase’ of their relationship. So I also question the extent to which James would have said anything of this nature to someone like Bill. Therefore, I agree with the senior NBA writers that this report is more likely to be false than true.