LeBron James expertly shuts down tampering accusations after Anthony Davis comments

LeBron James was asked about the possibility of New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis joining the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.

Naturally, he said “that would be amazing.”

And it would be. Davis is one of the best players in the NBA right now. The 25-year-old is averaging 28 points and 12.3 rebounds per game so far this year, and is a dominant force across the league.

It only makes sense that James — one of the best to ever play the game — would want to team up with Davis. It would be a bigger story if he didn’t want to play with him.

Some, though, didn’t take James’ comments simply as a hypothetical.

Some NBA general managers actually accused James and the Lakers of tampering, accusing James of attempting to recruit Davis to join the Lakers when he hits free agency in 2020 after his comments earlier this week.

James, though, expertly shut that down on Friday night following their 112-104 win over New Orleans at the Staples Center.

“Ask me, ‘Would I like to play with Kevin Durant?’ Ask me right now,” James said to a reporter on Friday.

“Would you like to play with Kev-?”

“Absolutely,” James said, cutting her off. “Ask me if I’d like to play with Jimmy Butler. Say it right now.”

“Would you like to play with Jim-?”

“Ask me about Kyrie Irving. Giannis. Ask me about Embiid. Ben Simmons. Go ahead, all of them. Luka Doncic. Ask me right now.

“Come on guys, it’s not rocket science. It’s not rocket science. These are great players, absolutely. I would love to play with a lot of great players. That’s just who I am. People get caught up in bunches some times and they wish they could control what you say. And they can’t control me, at all. And I play by the rules.”

There’s no tampering here. Good players want to play with other good players.

It’s as simple as that.

More from Yahoo Sports:
• Passan: A’s trade for Jurickson Profar
• Is LeBron guilty of tampering after talking about Anthony Davis?
• Sohi: Mavs’ Luka Doncic didn’t take long to get NBA’s attention
• Urban Meyer’s new gig: teaching character and leadership