The San Antonio Spurs are off to a perfect 4-0 start to the 2025-26 season thanks, in large part, to Victor Wembanyama. Wembanyama has been on an absolute tear and was named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday. The Frenchman is being hailed in some corners as the best player in the world, and Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz wants the Spurs to acquire LeBron James so that they can make a deep run in 2026.
“Wembanyama is ready to win now, and the Spurs should be doing everything in their power to help him do so. This includes sniffing around a LeBron James trade, a player who’s long had a great relationship with Gregg Popovich.
“There’s no shortage of advantages when it comes to pairing James and Wembanyama, whether it be on-court production, practice habits, strength training or learning the opponent’s every move.
“A core of Wembanyama, James, De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper and others could make a deep playoff run this year.”
This would be an impressive core, but the question is, who are the Spurs giving up to get James from the Los Angeles Lakers? Stephon Castle is the only valuable asset that Swartz didn’t name, so he’d be the centerpiece.
With James making $52.6 million in 2025-26, compared to $9.5 million for Castle, the Spurs will need to include a few players in their package. Adding Harrison Barnes ($19 million), Keldon Johnson ($17.5 million), and Jeremy Sochan ($7 million) would make the salaries work, but would the Lakers be interested in this deal even if some draft picks are included? It’s hard to say.
If the Spurs do find a way to pull off a trade for James and assemble that core, they could become a serious contender in the West. You’d be giving Wembanyama an All-NBA level player as a teammate, and that’s a scary thought.
Wembanyama is averaging 31.0 points, 13.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 4.8 blocks per game in 2025-26. The 21-year-old is shooting 60.3% from the field and has looked unstoppable.
Wembanyama is doing this without any All-Star by his side, as De’Aaron Fox has yet to play this season. You’d expect him to be even more impactful once defenses have to pay more attention to those around him.
Now, put James next to Wembanyama, and you’d be giving opposing teams nightmares. The four-time NBA champion averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game for the Lakers in 2024-25. Wembanyama has never played with anyone even close to as good as James is now, and they would be great together.
There would be a couple of concerns about bringing in James, though.
For starters, James is currently sidelined by sciatica and is only expected to return in mid-November. You have to be a little bit worried about whether the 40-year-old’s body is slowly starting to break down. You would still expect James to put up good numbers once he returns, but will he stay relatively healthy moving forward? No one can say for sure.
The other concern would be how quickly James will adapt to the team and vice versa. Integrating a piece like the 21-time All-Star is no easy task.
We saw how the Lakers ultimately came up well short in the playoffs last season, even though Luka Doncic had somewhat settled in well after arriving via trade from the Dallas Mavericks in February. You’d ideally want the superstar to have a training camp with the group, and that won’t be possible for James and the Spurs this season.
So, a deep playoff run wouldn’t necessarily be a guarantee, and you then start wondering about how many good seasons you will get out of James after this one. Is it worth it to give up a player like Castle and more valuable assets for him?
Ultimately, there is some cause for pause here. Also, all this said, James has a no-trade clause, so if he doesn’t want to go to the Spurs, then none of this matters.
