NBA Trade Rumors: 4 fun, realistic LeBron James trade ideas for 2023
By Dan Knitzer
The Trade: LeBron James to Dallas Mavericks for Tim Hardaway Jr., Bertans, McGee, 2027 and 2029 first rounds picks, and 2028 and 2030 first-round pick swaps
Luka Doncic and LeBron James would be awesome. And Dallas has plenty of big salaries they both 1) can throw into a trade, and 2) want to be rid of. That means a surcharge fee for whoever’s taking on the contracts of Davis Bertans, Tim Hardaway Jr., and JaVale McGee, in that order of negative contract value.
This trade would put the Dallas Mavericks almost all in, but they’d still have their 2024-2026 picks to play with.
With a roster of Luka, LeBron, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney Smith, Maxi Kleber, Josh Green, Christian Wood, and minimum salaried players, Dallas wouldn’t be crazy to think it could make at least one final in the 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 seasons.