The Los Angeles Lakers need to hit the reset button and trade LeBron James.
The idea that there was ever a conversation between Michael Jordan and LeBron James for the greatest player of all time was a joke. Certainly not after LeBron melted in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. And certainly not after he’s played musical chairs across his entire career, hoping from one super-team to the next in a vain attempt to shortcut the challenge of winning a championship.
But the way the Los Angeles Lakers shamefully ended this season, a case can be made that he is more of a liability than an asset at this point of his career.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka reportedly had a deal in place to trade for Buddy Hield. As Magic Johnson mentioned on ESPN’s Get Up, DeMar DeRozen was ready to become a Laker this year.
The only reason those two things didn’t happen is that LeBron reportedly pushed management to trade for Russell Westbrook – a move that single-handedly torpedoed its season.
Fast forward to the NBA trade deadline when LeBron reportedly wanted the team to trade Westbrook and include its first-round pick in 2027 in order to do it. They said no and then he passive-aggressively shades GM Rob Pelinka and talks about possibly returning to Cleveland to finish his career.
The Lakers are ranked 23rd in defense for the season. LeBron’s plus/minus for the year has been -117 for the season.
That means that while he’s been making a selfish run at the scoring title to add to his list of individual accolades, he’s been giving virtually no effort on defense.
The Lakers are a three-headed monster composed of James, Anthony Davis, and Westbrook. Almost everyone else has a minimum salary contract. Westbrook’s value is so low at this point that no one would trade for him.
The only two players with any real value for the team are James and Davis.
And when debating whether the Lakers should trade the heart of its team or get a new supporting cast, that hinges on one question: are the Lakers closer to winning a championship or being a rebuilding team?
If nothing else, this season has proven that it is obviously rebuilding.
Say what you will about Davis and his injury history but at least his commitment to winning and giving effort on both sides of the court is there.
LeBron, on the other hand, is a depreciating and high-maintenance asset with an agenda.
Come next year, LeBron will be working to put up enough offense each game to pass up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the leading scorer in NBA history.
His priority isn’t winning championships. Just weeks ago he talked about enjoying the game in spite of the Lakers’ porous record. Does that sound like the kind of competitor you’d want leading your team?
And do you think he’d still be saying that if he weren’t vying for the scoring title?
The man is more focused on his own individual accolades at this point in his career.
What that means is that the only thing we will be talking about next year as far as the Lakers are concerned are the two L’s: LeBron and losing.
It’s time the Lakers recognize that LeBron’s reign in the NBA has come to an end and trade him while he still carries a high amount of value.
At the end of the day, the reality is clear: The Lakers’ short-term and long-term goals of success are more likely to be achieved if it trades LeBron instead of keeping him to be the face of the franchise.