NBA insider says LeBron James wore a Knicks towel postgame to put pressure on the Lakers

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that LeBron James donned a New York Knicks towel during a postgame interview to pressure the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of the trade deadline.

“Of course, he was cognizant and aware that he was putting on a towel that said New York Knicks,” Windhorst said. “Why would he mess with the Knicks? Because he was using the Knicks as a tool to pressure the Lakers.”

But according to a recent report, the Lakers haven’t reacted internally to James’ attempts to apply pressure.

James and the Lakers beat the Knicks on the road by eight points on Feb. 3 to pick up their second win in a row. The 39-year-old came up big for Los Angeles, as he dropped 24 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block on 10-of-19 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 from deep.

Austin Reaves followed up one of his top performances of the season by contributing 22 points, six rebounds, seven assists and two blocks versus the Knicks.

Reaves finished with 32 points, two rebounds and three assists across 35 minutes of action in the Lakers’ road win over the Boston Celtics back on Feb. 1. The Lakers gave the Celtics their third home loss of the 2023-24 regular season so far.

After the win over New York, the Lakers are now back above the .500 mark at 26-25 but have a lot of work to do if they want to obtain a top-six seed and playoff berth in the Western Conference. Los Angeles is three-and-a-half games behind the Phoenix Suns for the No. 6 seed in the conference at the moment.

The Lakers have just one game left on their regular-season schedule before the trade deadline rolls around on Feb. 8. Los Angeles will play the Charlotte Hornets on the road on Monday night and then will have a few days off before the team takes on the Denver Nuggets at home on Feb. 8.

Whether or not James will stick around in Los Angeles past this season seems to be up in the air at this juncture. But if the Lakers can continue to string together wins like they have over the past couple of games, that will surely only help their chances of keeping the 39-year-old.