Rich Paul took to his podcast, Game Over with Max and Rich, to refute the rumors that he asked for Anthony Davis to be traded. Paul took issue with the reports from last week that he demanded that Davis be traded within the week.
“That thing was aggregated. This is the power of the internet. If you’re wondering why Rich Paul has a podcast, this is part of the reason why,” Paul said while noting he’s going to podcast responsibly, while also taking care of his players.
“The reality of it is, that’s fake news,” Paul said of the report of a trade demand. “When you have a player that’s on a team, it’s not like you want guys to move for the sake of being moved. If a guy is happy where they are, great. You care about people’s family, you care about the guy’s wellbeing, and you care if they’re happy. Now, from a business perspective, you want guys positioned to be paid. I really don’t care where the money comes from, the money can come from the 31st team in the NBA for all I care. Long as my guy is in position to get paid, that’s all I want to do…This idea I don’t want a player somewhere, that’s not true.”
The Dallas Mavericks and Davis have both been open to trades, according to several reports. Davis would like a contract extension this offseason, and Dallas may not be willing to give the veteran big man a max extension. That could lead to a situation where Davis is traded to a team that is willing to extend him.