Barring unforeseen circumstances, it appears forward LeBron James will begin the 2025 season as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.

According to a Sunday report from veteran basketball insider Marc Stein, James may have agent Rich Paul to thank for that.

Per Stein, it was Paul who put the kibosh on tentative trade discussions between the Lakers and Golden State Warriors surrounding James last season.

“It is believed that the Lakers would have reluctantly entertained trade conversations with the Warriors before last February’s trade deadline if James wanted them to seriously engage Golden State on a potential deal. Yet league sources say that the reported talks between the teams at the time never got that far in large part because James’ agent Rich Paul was adamantly opposed to the idea of LeBron James swapping Southern California for Northern California,” Stein wrote.

James moving north would’ve been seismic—one of the most celebrated athletes of the 21st century joining the rival with whom he is most closely associated. Paul, per Stein, considered how that would look and didn’t like what he saw.

“Sources say Rich Paul implored both teams to scrap the concept… largely because he wanted to insulate James from potential backlash over switching teams for the fourth time in his career,” Stein wrote.

Friendship, sharp business sense, both or neither? You be the judge.