After Lakers practice on Tuesday, star big man Anthony Davis spoke candidly on last year’s trade talks between the Lakers and Warriors. For the first time ever, LeBron was in (brief) trade discussions and it was quite a surreal experience for his teammates.
“I wasn’t on social media at the time. I heard about it. I can’t remember how I heard about it but I don’t think it affected anybody,” said Davis via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I think that was the first time ever he was in trade talks in his career. He’s seen everything so I don’t think that affected our team. But that was definitely strange to hear. In a sense of like, it was the first time he’d ever been talked about in a trade before.”
In 21 years in the NBA, LeBron James has never been on the trade block. Since being drafted first overall two decades ago, he’s been far too good and far too important for his teams to ever consider the option.
But as LeBron has aged, his situation has changed and people find themselves more open to the idea than they ever have before. Last season, the Warriors were hoping that the Lakers were at that point with LeBron where they would consider sending him to a more established environment. Obviously, it never quite panned out.
Ahead of last season’s trade deadline, the Lakers and the Warriors did have some preliminary talks surrounding a potential LeBron trade. The Warriors were looking to pair James with Stephen Curry for one last title run but LeBron’s agent/business partner Rich Paul shut down the discussions before things got far.
It would have been a dream scenario for countless fans and it might have helped both LeBron James and Stephen Curry add at least one more championship to their trophy case. In the end, however, LeBron’s loyalty is to the Lakers and that’s even more so now with Bronny in the fold.
Davis, who has been LeBron’s teammate since 2019, had never seen his friend and co-star as the topic of trade rumors and it was quite a shock to hear how close he was to joining the Warriors last season.
While he says that it had no impact on the team, it’s possible that LeBron’s uncertain future served as a distraction to the Lakers and influenced their play in the postseason. They got bounced in the first round and barely put up a fight against the Denver Nuggets.
This time, with mostly the same roster, there are concerns that the results will mostly be the same but there is hope that between the new additions and the influence of head coach JJ Redick, they can make changes for the better.
Now that LeBron’s loyalty is no longer in question, maybe the Lakers will play with a renewed sense of purpose this season and finally live up to their full potential in the West. If not, James may find himself in trade talks again before too long and the Warriors will no doubt be looking to get involved.
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