The Lakers could have gone two ways out of the All-Star break: Play as hard as possible on both ends of the court, or give up. Unfortunately for fans in Hollywood, they chose the latter option, dumping their first game back against the Clippers in the final seconds, then getting shellacked by the 10th seeded Pelicans, and losing to the Mavericks by five points.
- Charlotte Hornets
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Denver Nuggets
- Golden State Warriors
- Miami Heat
- Could The Lakers Actually Trade LeBron James?
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The Lakers are the biggest disappointment in the league. The Russell Westbrook experiment is a complete failure. Anthony Davis can’t stay on the court. Carmelo Anthony doesn’t play defense. Dwight Howard can barely move left to right. Kendrick Nunn has missed the entire season.
And now the unthinkable is a distinct possibility: According to The Ringer’s latest odds, the Lakers only have an 18% chance of making the playoffs. In a city where it’s championship or bust, this season is entirely unacceptable.
After Lakers GM Rob Pelinka made a historically bad trade for Russell Westbrook during the 2021 offseason, turning a championship contender into a stinking ball of fish guts, he could very well blow the Lakers up this summer. Pelinka could trade LeBron James for a mini-rebuild around Anthony Davis, or he could land another All-Star and depth for a better overall roster.
Sure, it seems impossible the Lakers would trade one of the best ever. But, if you squint just right, dealing LeBron James, 37, makes sense.
Below we’ll list five LeBron James trade ideas.
Charlotte Hornets
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, 2023 First-Round Pick
Charlotte Hornets Receive: LeBron James
The Lakers’ 2023 title chances would take an immediate hit with this trade. They’d be strapped with three offensive-minded point guards in LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, and Russell Westbrook for the season. The Purple and Gold would also set themselves up very well for the future.
LA would have to suffer through one more year with Brodie and his untradeable $47 million contract, but then their books would be surprisingly clean. Terry Rozier is on a very reasonable four-year, $97 million extension that averages out to roughly $24 million per year. Anthony Davis’s annual salary is $37 million, and LaMelo Ball is on his rookie-scale contract through 2024. Outside of those three players, the Lakers will be essentially free and clear to go shopping for another superstar during the summer of 2023, and they’d also have enough cash to add some high-quality depth.
The Lakers would love to add newly minted first-time All-Star LaMelo Ball. At 20-years-old, he’s already one of the best playmakers in the league, a player who projects as one of the best point guards for the next decade-plus. Ball has the innate ability to see things on the court a split-second ahead of everyone else, which in a game of inches, makes him incredibly valuable. LaMelo is 12th in the NBA in assist points created at 18.7 per game, and his passing ability is only going to get better as he gains experience, adds muscle, and learns the subtle ins and outs of the game.
Terry Rozier is better than you think. He’s an uber-athletic rim slasher who’s learned to leverage his blow by ability to create space for his mid-range jumper. On the season, Rozier is shooting 49.3% from 10 to 16 feet and 45.6% from 16 feet to the arc, making him one of the toughest non-All-Star covers in the league. Overall, he’s averaging 19.0 PPG and 4.4 APG while playing solid defense (46.2 DFG%).
A trio of Anthony Davis, LaMelo Ball, and Terry Rozier is an excellent start for the Lakers off a mini-rebuild. They could make the playoffs in year one and launch into the stratosphere over the next couple of seasons, depending on who they could pick up in free agency.
The math is simple on the Hornets side of things: LeBron James= Bronny + worldwide interest + a better overall team for the next couple of seasons.
LeBron James hasn’t slowed down yet. He’s averaging 29.0 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 6.3 APG for the poorly constructed Lakers. LBJ still explodes to the rim, kills teams in transition, and has the best vision in the NBA.
The 2022-23 Hornets would feature an excellent core of LeBron James, Miles Bridges, Gordon Hayward, Kelly Oubre Jr., and P.J. Washington. They’d be a top-5 team in the incredibly deep Eastern Conference, capable of upending anyone in a seven-game playoff series.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, 2022 First-Round Pick (via Clippers), 2023 First-Round Pick (via Heat), 2024 First-Round Pick
Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: LeBron James
This would be another mini-rebuild for the Lakers, with the Purple and Gold almost certainly missing the playoffs next year. Lakers coach Frank Vogel would probably have to start Russell Westbrook alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the backcourt and slot Josh Giddy up a spot at the small forward position. They’d be decent on offense, but the combination of Brodie’s defensive disinterest with Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddy’s youth would be borderline disastrous on the less fun end.
The good news for the Lakers is they’d get two excellent young guards in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddy, along with three first-round picks. After they slogged their way through a tough 2022-23 season, they’d be free of Westbrook’s terrible contract with a chance at making a splash in free agency.
The real value of this trade will come down to Josh Giddey because, despite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s ability to get buckets, he’s too poor an outside shooter and too limited a passer to become a future All-Star in the Western Conference. Giddey, however, could become a legitimate star in the NBA. He’s a 19-year-old shooting guard who just gets it. He sees the chess board 5 moves ahead like a young Nikola Jokic. Giddey has the entire bag of passes from drive and kick dimes, to cross-court swing passes, and soft lobs. He also has a nose for the ball as a rebounder, with the ability to pick up the angle of the ball off the glass a moment before the opposition. Giddey is only shooting 26.3% from deep this season, but if he can up his long distance stroke to a league-average mark, he could average something like 18 PPG, 10 APG, and 9 RPG in the near future as a fringe MVP candidate.
The Thunder have to make this trade. They’d give up two young players with potential who have never made an All-Star game for a top-5 player in LeBron James.
If the Lakers were to trade LBJ to small-market Oklahoma City, the insult alone would push him to new heights. He’d beast out in the offseason and come into the 2022-23 season with the biggest chip the league’s ever seen on his shoulder. He’d be the hands-down MVP favorite.
We’d also see LBJ and his best friend/super-agent, Rich Paul, work the phones like an overdrawn stockbroker trying to pay his mortgage. They’d find a way to use OKC’s massive cap space to bring in some talent, and this team would probably be better than the Lakers next year and perhaps beyond.
Denver Nuggets
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., 2022 First-Round Pick
Denver Nuggets Receive: LeBron James
The trio of Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Anthony Davis could be special. The Nuggets’ most significant problem, the one thing holding them back from true title contention (outside of injuries), has been their defense. Nikola Jokic is the MVP, and damn is he good, but he plays the NBA’s most important defensive position in the NBA, and he’s not a top-tier rim protector or perimeter defender.
Anthony Davis is one of the best defenders in the NBA, a player who two-steps from the rim to the three-point line with ease and uses his 7-6 wingspan to alter dozens of shots in the lane nightly. AD is more than capable of making up for Jamal Murray and Michael Porter’s mistakes on the less fun end.
Jamal Murray plays with an edge. He’s never made an All-Star team, and he seems to take his lack-of-respect gripes out on the rack nightly. Murray is a legitimate inside-out player connecting on 40.8% of his three-point attempts and a ridiculous 81.6% of his shots at the rim last season before he went down with an injury.
Michael Porter Jr. shoots the hell out of the ball from deep with a 41.9 3P% mark and 48.9% hit rate from 16 feet to the arc for his career. He’s more than just a shooter, though. He takes roughly a quarter of his shots in the lane and he’s connecting on a monstrous 78.5% of his looks at the rim throughout his career.
If the Lakers were to make this trade, they’d get much younger and have their trio of the future secured through 2025. They’d also be a solid playoff squad next season, and if Frank Vogel manned up and asked Russell Westbrook to come off the bench, a starting unit of J. Murray, T. Horton-Tucker, M. Porter Jr, S. Johnson, and A. Davis could make championship noise.
LeBron James and Nikola Jokic.
Nikola Jokic and LeBron James.
Any way you say it, LBJ and Jokic would be incredible together.
Think about this: Jamal Murray has missed the entire season recuperating from injury. Michael Porter Jr. has also been sidelined for all but nine games this year. Nikola Jokic still has the Denver Nuggets at 36-25, tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the fifth seed in the Western Conference.
What would happen if LeBron James joined the Nuggets?
LBJ and Jokic would become the best twosome in the league, a playmaking death spiral that would obliterate opposing squads. The Nuggets would mortgage their future with this trade, but barring a major injury, they’d win at least one title, if not two or three. And in a league where chips are all that matters, Denver would take this deal in an instant.
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Draymond Green, James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, Jordan Poole
Golden State Warriors Receive: LeBron James
The Lakers add one of the best defenders in the world, Draymond Green, and three young and talented prospects with this trade.
A starting frontcourt of Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, and Jonathan Kuminga would be the best defensive trio in the NBA, a group of long, athletic, and switchable defenders who would give the rest of the NBA fits. This threesome’s defense, under Frank Vogel’s masterful eye, would launch the Lakers toward the top of the Western Conference, and they wouldn’t be bad on the fun end either.
AD would provide a post outlet during bogged-down half-court possessions, and he’s an excellent rim runner out of the pick and roll. Green is one of the best passing big men in the league, and he’s more than capable of hitting a post-shot or two when it’s needed. Kuminga looks like a future All-Star. He’s already an elite finisher at the rim, and over the Warriors’ last 15 games, he’s stepped up his long-distance shot, hitting 35.9% from deep. The Lakers would also finally land a legitimate backup center, James Wiseman, giving them a genuine shot-blocking threat and post presence at all times.
Russell Westbrook and Jordan Poole would form a solid backcourt for the Lakers. Westbrook could use his playmaking skills to set up his teammates with easy looks, and Poole could help take some of the pressure off Anthony Davis with his mid-range game and ability to get into the lane. The less glamorous side could be a slight problem, but Poole goes hard on D, and Davis, Green, and Kuminga could help cover Westbrook’s miscues.
This deal would allow the Lakers to veer off the rebuild path next season while also setting them up nicely for the future. After Westbrook’s contract comes off the books during the summer of 2023, the Purple and Gold would have ample cap space to add several impact players who’d fit nicely beside AD, Green, Kuminga, Poole, Wiseman, Horton-Tucker, and Reaves.
The Warriors would land LBJ, a top-5 player to team up with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Kevon Looney in perhaps the best starting lineup in the NBA’s history.
It would be impossible to stop this group. Stephen Curry and LeBron James break down single coverage like mathematicians solving basic addition problems. When teams inevitably double team LBJ or Steph, they’ll have Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins, two All-Star sharpshooters waiting beyond the arc to feast, or Looney standing by himself at the rim for an easy 2.
If the Warriors land LBJ without giving up Curry or Thompson, their future might look bleak three years down the road, but you could ink them for back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024. Every player throughout the other 29 organizations in the association could go relax in Cancun. There’d be no need to play things out; that’s how good this team would be.
Miami Heat
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, P. J. Tucker
Miami Heat Receive: LeBron James
This is the best deal out of our five packages for the Lakers. Jimmy Butler is a top-20 player who proved during the 2020 bubble he can be the best player on a finals squad. With that said, the gap between LeBron James and Jimmy Butler is significant. LBJ offers better playmaking, shot creation, rebounding, and leadership. The Lakers would never trade LeBron for Jimmy Butler heads up. However, if Miami was to throw Tyler Herro and P. J. Tucker into the pot, the Purple and Gold would have to look long and hard at this deal.
The five-man combination of Russell Westbrook, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, P. J. Tucker, and Anthony Davis would have everything the Lakers need to come out of the west. Herro and Tucker would give this group spacing with their long-distance shooting. Westbrook and Butler are excellent playmakers, and Davis is a lethal small-ball center. Except for Tucker, this starting group would have four players who could get their own shot from nearly anywhere on the court, which means they’d be incredibly difficult for opposing squads to game plan against.
On the other end, the Lakers would have two of the ten best defenders in the world with Anthony Davis and Jimmy Butler. P. J. Tucker is also an excellent frontcourt defender, and Tyler Herro is a better ballhawk than you think, holding his assignments to a 44.2% clip from the field in 2021-22. Westbrook would be the weak link, but Frank Vogel could hide him on the opposing squad’s worst perimeter offensive option, tasking Butler with locking down the top point guards in the league.
Everything would come down to health for this group. Unlike this year’s version of the Lakers that lacks depth and dependable two-way players, this starting unit would be killer. If Anthony Davis could navigate 2022-23 without significant injuries, this Lakers squad could climb the mountain.
LeBron James would go back to South Beach, where he’d have everything he’d need for one or two more championship runs.
Bam Adebayo is an elite defender who’s slowly been gaining Defensive Player of the Year traction with his recent play. On the season, he’s holding his assignments to 5.4% under their normal average while single-handedly shutting down pick and roll actions, protecting the rim, and covering smaller players out by the arc. He’s also averaging 18.9 points per game while constantly pressuring the rack off cuts, lobs, and slashes in the lane.
Kyle Lowry, 35, is still an excellent playmaking point guard. He’s averaging 7.9 assists per game to go along with 13.4 points per contest. Lowry has all the passes in his arsenal, and he’s lethal off-the-dribble, capable of knocking a team out by himself from deep or mid-range.
Duncan Robinson and Max Struss would provide solid two-way play. Both players hit an above-average clip from beyond the arc, and they get after it on the less fun end.
The trio of LeBron James, Bam Adebayo, and Kyle Lowry, surrounded by two excellent long-distance marksmen in Duncan Robinson and Max Struss, would be hard to beat in the playoffs.
Could The Lakers Actually Trade LeBron James?
Crazy trades happen every year in the NBA.
Did anybody expect the Brooklyn Nets to deal James Harden only one year after acquiring him from the Rockets?
The Lakers are nowhere near a championship squad, and there’s no easy fix around the corner. The Purple and Gold are strapped with Russell Westbrook’s enormous $47 million salary next season, which means if they hold pat with LBJ and AD, they’ll only be able to make fringe moves during the offseason.
In fact, the Purple and Gold could be worse in 2022-23. Malik Monk is currently on a minimum deal, and he’s going to get a nice offer from another squad that the Lakers might not be able to match. And, all the minimum-salary-championship-chasing vets who’ll be available over the summer are going to veer 50 miles off course to avoid the stench coming off the Lakers.
LeBron James still has tremendous trade value around the league. Combine LBJ’s worth with his age, and the Lakers would be well within reason to build around the younger (and yes, injury-prone) Anthony Davis. Any move that sent James out would be met with howls from the Purple and Gold faithful, but the boo birds are already shooting around Crypto.com Arena, and they’re only going to get worse next year if the Lakers continue to lose.
There’s less than a 10% chance the Lakers trade LeBron James, but it’s not out of the question.
