It’s becoming increasingly clear that, even if either side wanted a trade, the Lakers are going to find it incredibly difficult to find a landing spot for LeBron James.
The Summer of LeBron has largely been about how much nothing is going to change. Stemming entirely from his odd statement upon opting into his contract, it’s become more and more evident that LeBron will play for the Lakers next season.
Even if the two sides did agree to a trade, the list of teams able to trade for him and still be
a title contender is short, and it’s a list that’s getting shorter. One of those teams many speculated might trade for LeBron was the Dallas Mavericks.
Outside of the history between the front offices, Dallas is currently rebuilding the 2020 Lakers. Adding LeBron to the mix would, on paper, have some rationale to it.
However, on paper is as far as that trade is ever going to get. According to Dan Woike and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, the Mavs have no interest in trading for LeBron.
One team linked to James — the Dallas Mavericks — does not have interest in gutting its roster to match James’ salary in a trade, a team source told The Athletic.
This does feel like one of those situations where it’s easy to say they do not have interest in “gutting its roster” to trade for LeBron when it’s not a realistic option. Their stance might change if LeBron actually was attainable, but that’s deep into a hypothetical.
The reality is that, in order to make the money work in a trade, the Mavs would have to deal a number of their core role players. For example, our own Bryan Toporek recently wrote about a potential trade that would need to include Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington and Max Christie.
That’s the problem that any trade involving LeBron is going to run into. He makes $52.6 million next season. There isn’t an easy to way to trade that much money, and it’s even more difficult to do so and also remain competitive.
Frankly, if LeBron was interested in playing on a title-contending team, he should have opted out of his contract. He opted in and now the only realistic path forward is playing for the Lakers next year.
After that, it’s anyone’s guess.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
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