NBA Trade Rumors: 4 fun, realistic LeBron James trade ideas for 2023
By Dan Knitzer
NBA Trade Rumors: Breaking down four of the most fun, realistic trade ideas for LeBron James.
Many fans are reading LeBron James’ latest comments about only playing to compete for titles as an ultimatum to the Los Angeles Lakers: trade me or go all in. Well, the Lakers probably know—since everyone else knows—that even surrendering their future draft picks and picks swaps isn’t enough to make them a contender again.
Even getting back to the talent level of their 2020-2021 roster feels unlikely.
So the Lakers should look to trade Anthony Davis and LeBron. There’s a problem with LeBron though. He locked himself into LA by waiting until August 4 to sign an extension—5 months and 30 days before the trade deadline. That means he’s not allowed to get traded this season.
This offseason, however, most contenders and fringe contenders will probably at least sniff around the possibility of acquiring the King, and the Lakers will listen, provided Anthony Davis is already traded, or about to be.
This offseason, teams will be allowed to trade away picks reaching all the way to 2030. These four trades feel most plausible and would make for the most fun.
The Trade: LeBron James to Miami Heat for Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, 2027 and 2029 picks
LeBron’s trade value is probably the lowest it’s ever been, because of his age and the number of games missed in recent years. When he plays, he’s still absolutely worth his maximum salary. He just can’t be the best player on a team with title aspirations.
Why, then, would a team like the Miami Heat without a clear top 8-ish NBA player trade precious future draft picks for round 2 of the Heatles? Because Pat Riley, damn it! He loves stars, and he usually finds a way to figure out the rest. Neither 2023 LeBron James nor Jimmy Butler figures to be the 1A on a title team, but with Bam Adebayo, shooters, and the Miami development system, this is probably the least star-powered team that could expect to go far with LeBron as its best or co-best player.
On the other side, Los Angeles would do this because Tyler Herro’s next contract—while far from a steal—figures to be about market rate for a score-first guard who can pass, who should be just good enough as a team’s best player to prevent them from forking over a top three of four picks to New Orleans in 2024 or 2025 (as part of the Anthony Davis trade).
Duncan Robinson is purely a salary-filler in this trade, and some of the draft pick equity (call it half of one pick sent to LA) is just the price for taking on his contract.