The NBA playoffs may be over, the draft may be done, but it’s still an extremely busy time in the league. Yesterday was the last day for players and teams to exercise contract options, and beginning later today, teams can begin negotiating with free agents from other teams.
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Interesting things are happening around the league. From Kevin Durant, Desmond Bane and Collin Sexton to CJ McCollum, Jordan Poole and Lonzo Ball, many notable players have been involved in trades. This promises to be a wild summer for player movement, and NBA fans are wondering if the biggest name in the league, LeBron James, is going to be one of those on the move.
LeBron exercised the $52.6 million player option of his contract yesterday, ostensibly returning him to the Lakers for his record 23rd season in the league. Not so fast, though, as in announcing his opt-in, LeBron’s agent Rich Paul released a statement that is confusing at best and downright weird at worst.
“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul told ESPN’s Shams Charania. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all.”
The Lakers got bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Timberwolves this past year, but they did add Luka Doncic at the trade deadline. If they’re able to find a capable center in free agency, there’s every reason to believe that a team centered around Luka and LeBron can make a run next year, especially when given an entire offseason to prepare.
So what gives with this statement? Does LeBron really want out, or is he just pressuring the Lakers to do everything they can to surround him with the best possible team?
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has been one of the best sources of LeBron-related insight over the past 2+ decades, and for a couple of reasons, he believes that LeBron will remain in L.A.
“I do not think LeBron James is going to be traded, either today or tomorrow or in a month or in three months,” Windy said. “Number one, he makes $53 million, and doing a trade like that to a competitive team that has a high payroll is going to be very difficult.”
“Secondly, he has a no-trade clause, which would mean he would control all sides of a trade. Not only where he would want to go but what he would want to get traded for, and those parameters just make it unlikely that a deal like that would ever happen. So while it’s fascinating to think about, I don’t think that’s an avenue here.”
Windhorst also pointed out that the Lakers were the No. 3 seed in the West. They should also be better next year with competent moves this summer. If LeBron doesn’t see them as a title contender, there are probably very few teams that he does.
“The way that LeBron’s operation has approached this is an indication that he is not happy,” Windhorst said, “and I’m not sure what the Lakers can do to make him happy in the next couple of days that they hadn’t done the last six months.”
Bobby Marks came in after Windy, and he said that the reason he doesn’t believe a LeBron trade will happen is because there isn’t a market for him. That’s lunacy. Sure, his salary is onerous, and he’s the oldest player in the league. But we’re still talking about a player who made Second Team All-NBA. Father Time comes for everyone, but LeBron is doing a hell of a job of holding him off.
If LeBron is serious about going elsewhere, then it’s going to happen, plain and simple. You can’t say that a team like the Cavs, who have a clear path to winning the East in the wake of major injuries to some of their top competitors, wouldn’t want to bring LeBron home again to join Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley.
The big question is whether LeBron is serious about wanting to go elsewhere, or if this is just his way of forcing the Lakers to think less about the future and more about the present while he’s still around. That’s the more likely aim, and if it puts a little more pep in Rob Pelinka’s step, then it will have worked.
LeBron is an all-time great basketball player, but he’s also a legendary master of the passive-aggressive arts. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He has business interests in L.A., and he’s in the midst of building a new home there. All signs point to this being a play to get the Lakers to commit to a win-now move or two.
