We’re nearly a month into free agency, and LeBron James still hasn’t decided where he’s signing for next season. What’s the holdup?
On Wednesday, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports floated one theory.
“The popular theory around the league is that LeBron has been slow-playing his decision to see if any of his suitors could find a way to land [Kyrie] Irving or [Anthony] Davis,” O’Connor wrote. “If a team proved capable of acquiring one of his championship teammates, sources say, it might sway him in that direction.”
However, ESPN’s Shams Charania rebuffed that idea Thursday during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.
“From my understanding, my sources tell me LeBron James, his agent Rich Paul, that inner circle, they’re not waiting for another domino right now,” he said. “They’re not waiting for Anthony Davis to get traded anywhere. They’re not waiting for anybody else to move around.”
O’Connor was the first to report about the Golden State Warriors’ interest in trading for Davis and signing LeBron, which Charania later confirmed. Although Marc J. Spears of Andscape reported that the Washington Wizards were “not listening to offers” for Davis at the time—and Charania told McAfee on Thursday that “those conversations for AD have gone nowhere for the Warriors”—that could change if the Wizards can’t come to terms on an extension with Davis once he becomes eligible on Aug. 6.
“There are rumblings he’s demanding that full max from Washington but would sign for less if traded to a contender,” O’Connor wrote Wednesday. “That is why not every source is convinced the Wizards will ultimately keep him.”
That begs the question: Should the Sixers explore what it would cost to acquire Davis if he could help them land LeBron as well? What would a trade even look like?
The end of the Embiid era
From the Sixers’ perspective, a Davis trade would be fairly straightforward. Unless they were willing to offload the newly acquired Jaylen Brown as part of the deal, they’d have to use Joel Embiid ($58.0 million) as the main salary match for Davis ($58.5 million).
Since the Sixers are under the first apron, they are able to take back more salary than they send out in a trade. An Embiid-for-Davis swap would be legal for both the Sixers and Wizards, although it would add roughly $470,000 to the Sixers’ books. That might sound relatively inconsequential, but the Sixers are only $3.4 million below the first apron at the moment and can’t cross that line this season.
The bigger question is what else the Sixers would have to include.
After trading their 2031 first-round pick along with whatever the hell this is in 2028 for Brown, the Sixers are limited in which first-rounders they’re allowed to trade. The Stepien Rule prevents teams from being without a first-round pick in back-to-back drafts, which means the Sixers can’t trade their 2027 or 2029 picks for now due to the possibility of them being pick-less in 2028. They also can’t trade their 2030 or 2032 picks since they owe the 2031 one to Boston, which means their 2033 first-round pick is the only one that they could trade.
The Sixers could offer pick swaps in 2027, 2029, 2030 and/or 2032, so they aren’t completely without currency. They also have control of virtually all of their second-round picks—they only owe a 2030 second-rounder to New York, along with a 2032 second-round swap with Memphis. They’re also owed two additional second-round picks in both 2027 and 2028 and one in 2030, which gives them as many as nine tradable seconds. (They can’t trade their own 2028 second-round pick, as it’s tied up conditionally in the first-round pick that they might owe to Brooklyn.)
The Wizards gave up a late 2026 first-round pick, a top-20-protected 2030 first-round pick (via the Warriors) and three second-rounders to acquire Davis at the trade deadline. Would the Sixers be able to acquire him for a similar price? That depends on the Wizards’ appetite to absorb Embiid’s contract.
Embiid is just beginning a three-year, $187.9 million extension. Davis is in the second year of his three-year, $175.4 million deal. He’s earning $58.5 million this year and has a $62.8 million player option in 2027-28.
Granted, if the Wizards are open to giving Davis a long-term max or near-max extension, they might not see Embiid’s contract as completely radioactive. After all, they’re already pot-committed to paying an oft-injured big man roughly $60 million over each of the next two seasons. If anything, Embiid might give them an earlier Get Out of Contract Jail Free card since this figures to be his last max contract.
Would it be worth giving up the Sixers’ last tradable first-round pick and Embiid for Davis? That depends on whether it would get them LeBron, along with Davis’ expectations for an extension. Signing him to a four-year max extension would raise some thorny long-term financial issues for the Sixers in a few years.
Should the Sixers throw long-term caution to the wind if they can roll out a starting five of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Brown, LeBron and Davis, though? What if that comes at the expense of building around Maxey and Edgecombe in a few years?
If Davis’ future truly has no bearing on LeBron’s, as Charania said Thursday, then this is a non-issue. But if LeBron drags out his decision until August, this is a conversation worth having in the days leading up to when Davis becomes eligible to sign an extension with the Wizards.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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