Los Angeles Lakers: Trading LeBron James should be an option this summer
If bad gets to worse this off-season, the Los Angeles Lakers shouldn’t entirely rule out the possibility of trading LeBron James
On the surface, it may sound silly and probably something that should not even be entertained a year into what many expect to be a four-year experiment, but depending on how the Los Angeles Lakers perform during NBA Free Agency, trading LeBron James shouldn’t be completely off the table this summer.
To begin to understand this line of thinking, let me paint a picture for you…
It’s nearing the end of July, and the Lakers missed out on all the big-name free agents. Kawhi Leonard signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, Kevin Durant made the move to New York, Kyrie Irving re-sign with the Boston Celtics (who also traded for Anthony Davis at the NBA Draft), Klay Thompson re-sign with the Golden State Warriors, Kemba Walker followed Durant to the New York Knicks and Jimmy Butler re-upped with the Philadelphia 76ers.
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The Lakers are still scanning the trade market, but the Washington Wizards refuse to move Bradley Beal and the Portland Trail Blazers are ready to blowup their dynamic backcourt duo. So, what next?
Well, in this nightmarish scenario for the Lakers, they’d be forced to once again rely on their young core of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma making another jump in 2019-20 in order for the Lakers to make any kind of noise in the Western Conference – and we all saw how well that worked out for the Lakers this season.
If it got to this point, would the Lakers seriously weigh the option of trading LeBron? It’s tough to say whether this franchise would ever get to that point, but it’s certainly something that should be discussed if nothing else.
LeBron is 34 years old and is on the backend of his prime years, and missing on adding a second superstar to this roster would likely mean another rough year for Los Angeles – with the exception of Ball or Ingram making an unforeseen jump in their progression.
Would it be in the best interest for the Lakers to try to see what they could get in exchange for LeBron James at that point? Perhaps they could move him for another young piece or two, or for a nice haul of draft picks – depending on which team would be interest in making the move for arguably the best – or second-best – basketball player on the planet.
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Again, the Los Angeles Lakers trading LeBron James is probably not going to happen this summer, but if bad quickly gets to worse it might be something the franchise should really think about.