LeBron James broke with his tradition on Sunday, and that raised some eyebrows. First, he picked up his $52.6 million player option to return to the Lakers, a departure from his previous approach, which was to opt out of the contract, then renegotiate a two-year deal with the team (with a player option for the second year). Then his longtime friend and agent Rich Paul released this statement to ESPN:
"LeBron wants to compete for a championship. He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we've had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.
"We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what's best for him."
All of that combined led some Lakers fans and NBA Twitter to handle things with their usual calm rationality. Which is to say, they freaked out and started coming up with fake LeBron trades (clickbait sites jumped all over the hypothetical trades). There was a good 24 hours of people freaking out. In league circles, people took notice, and it became a talking point. However, most were asking if this was the first step toward him looking for a trade, but more likely a year from now.
The reality as of today: LeBron James is a Laker, has not requested a trade, and almost certainly will be a Laker this season. Here are some things to consider when thinking about LeBron's next move.
• LeBron James has a long and storied history of passive-aggressive statements to try to get his teams to spend big or make trades in the offseason. He pushes them to contend now (and often not worry about the future). This is a well-worn path with him that dates back to Miami, and even his first stint in Cleveland. It's understandable from LeBron's perspective, he wants to play meaningful games and be on a contender entering one of his final seasons, and despite the 50 wins and the No. 3 seed a season ago, the playoffs showed LeBron and everyone the Lakers are not there yet. They need a rim-running center, and more 3&D-type players — such as Dorian Finney-Smith, who just opted out of his contract and the Lakers want to re-sign — and LeBron is pushing them down that road.
• LeBron understands that the Lakers are in transition. LeBron turns 41 in the middle of next season, Luka Doncic is 26 and just entering his prime. LeBron gets it, Doncic is the Lakers' future and the roster is going to be tweaked to fit his game. However, LeBron wants to contend with Doncic in Los Angeles this season, not play through a gap year while Los Angeles shifts to a roster built to maximize Doncic's skills. To be clear, neither the Lakers nor Doncic wants that gap year either, they all expect to contend next season.
• It's highly unlikely LeBron will be traded because he wants to contend and the Lakers are closer to that than any destination that would get gutted of talent trying to trade for him. ESPN's Bobby Marks put it this way Monday morning: There is no LeBron trade market.
Hypothetically, if he pushed for a trade, LeBron would find himself in the same situation as Giannis Antetokounmpo finds himself now: He can go to a team in the exceptionally deep West and try to beat out defending champs Oklahoma City, Houston with the addition of Kevin Durant, Minnesota and Anthony Edwards, Denver and Nikola Jokic, and the list goes on and on. Or, he could attempt to force his way back to the East, but to match his massive salary and give the Lakers what they want, LeBron's new team would be gutted and be less of a contender.
Let's take the trade fans gravitated toward Sunday: Sending LeBron back to Cleveland. It can be done with a combination of Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and either De'Andre Hunter or Max Strus. Cleveland gets worse in that trade. Fans seem to undersell both the value of Garland to the Cavaliers and seem to ignore the lessons of depth from this year's NBA finalists. People want to discount the Cavaliers' 64-win season because they lost to the Pacers in the second round, a series where Darius Garland tried to play through turf toe but was a shell of himself on both ends of the court, and that was just the start of a long list of injuries plaguing the Cavaliers (plus, it turns out the Pacers were very good by the end of the season).
Longtime Lakers reporter Jovan Buha said he heard Dallas "had buzz" as a potential trade partner, reuniting LeBron with guys he won rings with in Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. Good luck making that work. First, Dallas didn't get old enough with the Davis for Luka swap? This would be a three-team (at least) trade that involves Dallas giving up Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, Klay Thompson (if the Lakers want him, don't be so sure) and another player like Dwight Powell. Then the Mavs and LeBron need to wait for Irving to recover from his torn ACL, and hope Davis stays healthy. Is that what LeBron means by contender?
All of this is to say, don't expect a LeBron James trade anytime soon. Do look for the Lakers to get the message and try to spend to contend this season by acquiring a center — hello, DeAndre Ayton — and adding more wing depth.
