It’s “unrealistic” that the Lakers would consider trading LeBron James to the Mavericks so that he could join forces with Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, a source told Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Irving, who is headed to free agency, reached out to his former Cavaliers teammate about the possibility of playing in Dallas. James has previously expressed his desire to play with Irving in Los Angeles and was believed to be disappointed when the Lakers didn’t acquire him at February’s trade deadline.
However, as Buha details, the Lakers aren’t interested in what the Mavericks might offer from their roster for their aging superstar, who hinted at retirement after the team was eliminated by Denver in the Western Conference Finals. Dallas doesn’t have the young talent outside of Doncic to entice the Lakers if James were to ask for a trade. Even multiple draft picks to sweeten the pot (Dallas owns the No. 10 pick) probably wouldn’t get the job done.
James isn’t using Irving’s interest in playing with him as leverage to try to force the Lakers front office to pursue a sign-and-trade for the free agent guard, according to Buha.
Irving’s recruitment of James suggests that he prefers to sign the Mavericks’ max offer (or something close to it) rather than taking less money from the Lakers, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News notes.
The Lakers could open up as much as $30-35MM in cap space to sign Irving but he apparently doesn’t want to take a discount. A sign-and-trade scenario would be much more appealing to Irving because he could get a higher salary.
Los Angeles, from all indications, is more focused on retaining some of its top free agents (Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves). Lakers sources reiterated to Buha on Monday they’re not looking to add Irving.
Outside of a trade, the only way James could join the Mavs would be via a buyout of his contract and that seems like an extreme long shot. James has one year remaining on his contract at $46.9MM and then a player option for the 2024/25 season worth $50.65MM.
Slow news day
Fr
This just in: no s$&@
we all know that just Kyrie way of saying that he wants to sign for the max not some MLE contract. That puts the Kyrie to Mavs as a will not ever happen category.
That goodness for this mysterious source lmao the whole basketball world was waiting with bated breath
I just hope for Mavs fans sake they are in good relations with Luka behind the scenes
These next 2 years are prolly F#%$&,…….with some practice in Team building they can still get on the right track
Thinking or even trying to outwardly wish it into fruition this year prolly sets you back further and dims the light at the end of the tunnel ( Luka leaves )
Mark, you built this house with a flawed structure , time to eat crow for a while , none of this is helping ; Welcome to KI – Ville, population -You now , still time to re-neg on your down payment w no more charges and hidden fees
Yeah the Mavs have little choice but to go for the quick 2 year tank to replenish their roster…
First they have a Kyrie sized hole to deal with…
I do wonder if the Kyrie deal was the straw that broke the camels back tho…
Idk but damn 1 straw too many in that case
It be semi fascinating if Mavs just went completely out on him and didn’t accommodate a S&t
Put this turd on the free market and listen to the crickets
Or what’s really going to happen is they put the right pieces around Luka and Kyrie. They need better wing defenders and a big man that can rebound and defend the paint. They don’t need another star they need guys that fit. The “two year tank” is a ridiculous idea with the 3rd best player in the league as well as another top 15-20 player that is not even being considered. Get serious.
Who said anything about a tank ?
I said team build …. It’s an old concept from the pre 2 k days – Stop thinking so black and white . Teams aren’t built on computers
Everyone from California is moving to Texas anyways so you might as well send him to Dallas.
Elon approves)
I wish they wouldn’t
Only trade with the Mavs the Lakers should accept is a Doncic for Lebron trade
That’s funny
It’s meant to be.
I just don’t see Lebron going to the Mavs in a way that’s beneficial to both parties.
Yeah I’m sure the Mavs would be willing to do that haha
Indeed. It would be the worst mistake in franchise history I guess :)
Much bigger mistake than trading for Kyrie Irving …
Yeah it would be the biggest mistake ever. Trading for Kyrie wasn’t a mistake. They need better fitting pieces around them but anyone who is calling it a huge mistake over one disappointing half season is very shortsighted and not very knowledgeable. Stay tuned.
Anything can happen in silvers NBA