Rich Paul calls the rumors of him wanting the Lakers to trade Russell Westbrook and a 1st-round pick for John Wall a ‘damn lie’

In the days leading up to the NBA trade deadline earlier this month, a potential deal involving Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook and Houston Rockets guard John Wall was rumored to be in the works.

Westbrook’s tenure with the Lakers has thus far been a disaster. While Wall has yet to play a single game this season with the Rockets, he was seen as a potential upgrade.

When no trade materialized involving the two guards, there were other rumors that Klutch Sports Group, the agency associated LeBron James, was not happy about it.

Now, with the All-Star break winding down and league play on the verge of starting back up, Rich Paul appears to be trying to clear the air.

“Rich Paul called me yesterday and asked me to quote him on the story about him and Klutch Sports and essentially them wanting the Lakers to trade Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick to Houston for John Wall,” Stephen A. Smith said.

“He wanted me to state emphatically that there was absolutely, positively no truth to that whatsoever. He never did that. He did not do that. The people who wrote the story never contacted him to get any kind of perspective from him on that. It is an absolute lie and he said, ‘Could you please do me a favor and quote me and tell the world that I specifically said that’s a damn lie. It’s no truth. It never happened.'”

Things have not been going as James or Paul surely hoped they would in L.A. so far this season. The Lakers are 27-31 and currently sit at the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference. Though James is having another incredible season, his team hasn’t been able keep up in the West.

The team has dealt with a number of injuries and absences. Perhaps the most glaring issue, however, is Westbrook’s inability to have a positive impact on games.

Whether Wall would have improved things in L.A. is unknown. However, what is known is that the team has quite a lot of distractions to deal with at the moment.

L.A.’s next game will come on Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers at home.