NBA: LeBron James Opens Up On Trash Talk With Chris Paul Over All-Time Assists Record

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has denied any friendly banter between him and Chris Paul over the all-time assists record in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

James is currently in eighth place on NBA's all-time assist leader list, with 9,067 assists, 369 behind Paul's 9,436 assists. Not many are aware that Paul and James are pretty good friends off the field and discuss career and other stuff quite regularly.

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Paul earlier heaped praise on James, saying people don’t realize how selfless James is.

Even though Paul is ahead in the list, James has been miles ahead in the ongoing NBA edition. James is in the lead in assists this season, with 10.7 a game, while Paul is 19th with 6.4 a game.

Ahead of the fixture between Lakers and Orlando Magic on Wednesday, James was asked if there’s any pleasant trash talk going on between him and Paul. To which he responded,” No, not really. We talk a lot, myself, [Car]melo [Anthony], Dwyane Wade. We talk a lot about things that are going on in our lives or our careers. If we’re able to hit a milestone throughout the course of this marathon, we acknowledge one another. We congratulate one another. But it never goes to the trash-talking side.”

“It’s never been in our DNA. It’s never been who we’ve been about throughout our career since our brotherhood started. It’s pretty damn cool to see CP right there, I’m right there in assists. Guys coming from small cities, Winston-Salem and Akron, Ohio. And that would be Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for some of you guys that [don’t know]. To do what we’re doing today, that’s pretty cool,” the Lakers’ small forward added in his pre-match interview.

James and Paul’s bonding goes back to their growing-up days. They played AAU basketball against each other, they were a part of the 2003 McDonald’s All-American game, and they helped the US Olympic team win gold in Beijing (2008) and London (2012) Olympics. On a personal level, they attended each other’s weddings and also celebrated the births of each other’s children.

Lakers’ nine-game winning streak came to an end as they ended up losing 118-119 to Magic at Staples Center on Wednesday night. James, who added another 19 assists and took his NBA assists tally to 9,086, grabbed three rebounds and 19 points.

Despite the loss, Lakers are on the top of the Western Conference with a record of 33-8 ahead of Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz.