LEBRON IS IN EMBARRASSMENT MODE, DEMANDING REDICK AND BRONNY IN L.A.

James’ agent, Rich Paul, claims LeBron could sign elsewhere while Bronny is taken by the Lakers — which is b.s. when the entire engine is set for a Lakers podcast and a 19-year-old son joining his dad

     For the record, with his throat suitably cleared, the agent said: “The Lakers can draft Bronny and LeBron doesn’t re-sign.” His name is Rich Paul, and he dates Adele, and he was wearing a Warren Moon throwback jersey behind the trunk of his car when he met LeBron James at the Akron-Canton airport in 2002. Thank you, Rich, for suggesting that much as the lead representative behind James.

     I don’t believe it. Adele may sing “Skyfall” at bedtime. I don’t believe Bronny stays in Los Angeles after the NBA draft while LeBron plays elsewhere.

     I believe LeBron has instructed the Lakers to hire JJ Redick, his podcast buddy, to coach the team and remove him from the grotesque Disney booth trio during the Finals. Then I believe the Lakers will select Bronny, LeBron’s son, with the 55th choice in next week’s draft. Then I believe LeBron will return with JJ and Bronny for $164 million amid frequent podcast appearances for the kid.

     All of which makes James an embarrassment in any further debate about where he falls, below Michael Jordan, on a list of basketball G.O.A.T.s. Just stop the discussions. They no longer matter.

     If he was legitimate about still trying to pass Jordan, who won six championships in 15 years when James has won four in 21 years, he would look around seriously as a free agent. Paul has said LeBron won’t be headed to the Phoenix Suns — the only team beyond the Lakers to work out Bronny individually — at least not for a cheap deal based on the monster contracts earned by Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. “LeBron is also not going to Phoenix for a minimum deal. We can squash that,” Paul told ESPN.

     But … what about Dallas? Wouldn’t that make sense for LeBron, who probably won’t make the playoffs in L.A. though he could produce at least two more dominant seasons, in that Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving aren’t owed the massive three-way Phoenix deals? Didn’t Paul mention the Mavericks general manager, Nico Harrison, is “like an uncle to Bronny” and would “take him at 58 and give him a guaranteed deal” if the Lakers passed at 55? What about Golden State, where Steph Curry needs help in his career twilight? As Paul claimed, though not with a lie detector, LeBron no longer requires his son to play with him in his final seasons.

     “LeBron is off this idea of having to play with Bronny. If he does, he does. But if he doesn't, he doesn’t,” Paul said. “There's no deal made that it's guaranteed that if the Lakers draft Bronny at 55, he (LeBron) will re-sign. If that was the case, I would force them to take him at 17. We don't need leverage.”

     Who needs leverage, anyway, when the desired circus is about to begin?

     It’s stunning for LeBron to let Paul speak publicly a week in advance. It’s also a scam. How disingenuous for LeBron to say media aren’t being fair when, in truth, Bronny isn’t remotely worthy of being a 13th active player on any NBA team. If I’m Mark Cuban, who has been supplanted as team governor by Patrick Dumont, I’d play a game of trying to coax LeBron and Bronny to Dallas. Sure, right, gotcha. Forget it. LeBron and Paul are in complete control of this story, apart from a league office that wants fans to think the commissioner has full jurisdiction. Adam Silver? All he’s doing is making sure LeBron and JJ are alongside Bronny when he’s picked.

     Somewhere, a team could wreck the purple-and-gold train and at least try to select Bronny. Paul said Dallas, Minnesota and Toronto like him. Why would a team, especially in the Western Conference, let LeBron and the Lakers have their easy way here? Oh, because they don’t want to intimidate James. if I’m a franchise owner and I want to disrupt Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka in their time of need? I’m ordering a kill shot. It’s not happening.

     So, in a league where fans aren’t even certain of the No. 1 pick — will it be Zaccharie Risacher from France or Connecticut’s Donovan Clingan going to Atlanta? — we have yet another LeBron story from Hollywood. The Decision, from 2010, has become The Family Tree. Has Redick given deep thoughts about the Lakers and whether he wants to be the next coach fired by LeBron? He’ll make money, noting the $70 million rejected by Dan Hurley, though not as much as Monty Williams. He’ll take home an outlandish $65 million after lasting only one season with the Detroit Pistons. Before last year’s offer, Williams rejected owner Tom Gores several times and finally decided to take the hard cash. At least he acknowledged it.

     “That’s something that people don’t talk about — they always say it wasn’t the money. I always laugh at that. I think that’s disrespectful,” Williams said. “When somebody is that generous to pay me that kind of money, one, that should be applauded, and, two, it should be talked about. All of us as head coaches could go coach in our hometowns and not travel as much and be home more and have less stress.”

     He failed. Redick will be next. Bronny, too, will fail.

     LeBron wins. He’ll be in 11th place, but the podcast will have more followers.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.