OK, picture this: It’s Opening Night in October, and the Boston Celtics are lined up on the bench for pregame introductions. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown sit waiting for their turn to rise, strut onto the floor, and go through their usual handshakes and routines. Sitting right beside them, suited up in green… LeBron James?
Longtime basketball analyst Jeff Goodman proposed that the Celtics pursue James this offseason. Granted, in Goodman’s version of the next grand Brad Stevens masterplan, Boston
also trades Brown to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“What about this: You get Giannis for Jaylen Brown, and then you get LeBron,” Goodman said on CLNS Media’s “Bob Ryan & Jeff Goodman.”
But for this exercise, we’re going to focus solely on the LeBron-to-Boston portion of the hypothetical.
James — a 22-time All-Star, four-time MVP, and four-time NBA champion — will enter his age-42 season in December. He remains an athletic anomaly in the mold of Tom Brady, avoiding Father Time in a way few athletes ever have. That reality means his market value, while no longer what it was during 2010’s “The Decision,” still carries significant weight.
Last season, James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists across 60 games last season, playing alongside Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. He ranked second in the Western Conference in assists, shot 51.5 percent from the field, and logged 33.2 minutes per game.
That production is more than serviceable by NBA standards — let alone a player in his 40s.
So to begin, there are a few things to consider:
- James would need to signal interest in joining the Celtics to get the wheels in motion first and foremost.
- Boston does have a traded player exception (TPE) worth roughly $27.7 million, but any realistic path would likely require a complex trade framework — potentially involving a sign-and-trade with Los Angeles.
- Historically, James has not spoken fondly of Boston, though he has publicly praised both Tatum and Brown.
- The window to maximize LeBron’s value in Boston is narrow, given the future Hall of Famer’s impending farewell tour is scheduled to begin at any moment.
- Next to every Celtics fan’s shrine honoring Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, there could theoretically be a framed photo of Tatum, Brown, and James.
Insane? Yes.
Potentially beneficial in more ways than meet the eye? Also yes.
Boston eliminated James twice early in his career, before he responded by ending the Pierce, Garnett, and Allen Big Three’s run in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, twice getting the better of the Isaiah Thomas-led Celtics in 2015 and 2017, and then closing out Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Game 7 of the 2018 Conference Finals.
Speaking just a few days after Boston’s colossal collapse and first-round exit from the postseason, the organization’s president of basketball operations himself made it clear that improvement would be necessary moving forward.
“Though we did a lot of good things, we lost in the first round, and we were also 3-11 against the top three seeds in the West and the other top two in the East.” Stevens told reporters during his end-of-season press conference last week, “And so, we’ve gotta get better, and that’s been the communication in here.
“Just talking to the team, obviously, these guys are really committed to growth. I thought the coaches did a really good job of helping guys all get better. But there’s another step to take, whether you’re in my shoes, or you’re in any of our support staff’s shoes, or if you’re in our coaches’ shoes, or if you’re in our players’ shoes, we gotta get better. So that’s gonna be the charge and the focus. We’ll figure out how best to do that.”
Last offseason, the Celtics were forced to plaster their yard sale signs outside TD Garden to get under the second apron of the luxury tax and drop their payroll from $512 million to $274 million.
That meant bidding farewell to many of the 2024 championship team’s primary contributors, including Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford. It also meant that Stevens would have his work cut out for him down the line to upgrade the roster and return it to its previous dominant state, equipped for immediate contention.
When it comes to the great Celtics roster architects — Red Auerbach, Danny Ainge, Brad — there’s always been a common thread: putting winning ahead of everything else. Ainge, Stevens’ predecessor in Boston, was notoriously cutthroat when it came to making difficult decisions. That mentality rubbed off on Stevens three years ago, when an Eastern Conference Finals loss to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat prompted him to trade Marcus Smart for Porziņģis, then move Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon for Holiday.
Those decisions aren’t easy to make, but without them, it’s hard to imagine the Celtics are in the NBA Finals months later, clinching their 18th title at home against the Dallas Mavericks.
This time, Stevens and the organization find themselves in a similar spot. Losing to the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, after taking a 3-1 series lead, while facing a wounded Joel Embiid, weeks removed from emergency appendectomy surgery, wasn’t acceptable — not by the franchise’s historically upheld standard, and certainly not in the eyes of Stevens. So that needs to be addressed through roster improvement first and foremost.
In terms of depth, the Celtics are in a great spot. Joe Mazzulla and his staff did tremendous work developing the team’s bench unit over the course of the season. Luka Garza, Hugo González, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, and Ron Harper Jr. each took steps forward while helping stabilize the roster during Tatum’s 62-game absence. There was also the growth of first-time starter Neemias Queta, whom Mazzulla texted during the offseason to inform him he would be replacing Porziņģis, Horford, and Luke Kornet with the biggest elevated role of his career.
That spoke volumes about Mazzulla’s ability to make the most of a bad situation. But flaming out in the first round also confirmed that reinforcements are needed.
James has not been back to the NBA Finals since 2020. He hasn’t reached the Conference Finals since 2023 and has suffered multiple early postseason exits, including two first-round eliminations and a second-round sweep at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the past three years.
In his eighth season with Los Angeles, James accepted that he wasn’t the guy — and that was fine. The team still finished fourth in the West with a strong 53-29 record and gave itself a fighting chance.
But with the Lakers offering a good, but not great, situation — and with other options potentially on the table — a change of scenery could represent his clearest path back to the biggest stage before taking his final bow.
James earned $52.6 million this past season, and considering the current state of the Lakers, it’ll be hard to rationalize continuing to allocate that much when the team isn’t up to par with the wild, wild West. In LA, James has already done his job in delivering the organization a championship. Ultimately, there have been a few missed opportunities to make that multiple Larry O’Briens, suggesting a split could be in sight.
Los Angeles has already commemorated seven Laker legends — Magic Johnson (in 2004), Jerry West (2011), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2012), Shaquille O’Neal (2017), Elgin Baylor (2018), Kobe Bryant (2024), and Pat Riley (2026) — with statues outside of Crypto.com Arena. When asked if James could eventually join them, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss laughed and replied, “He’s still playing. We don’t talk about statues until someone retires,” in a video.
There’s a cultural difference between Los Angeles and Boston, but a shared desire between both the Celtics and James to win. Few situations across the league offer the position Boston does. Any team with Tatum and Brown is a contender by default. Mazzulla is expected to be named NBA Coach of the Year, and Stevens just secured his second Executive of the Year honor.
So while the organization underachieved and still has clear flaws that need addressing, it remains one of the most well-oiled machines in the league.
As Stevens also mentioned last Wednesday, the rest of the NBA is only getting stronger. There was a tanking epidemic that commissioner Adam Silver was forced to address, and an upcoming draft on June 23rd that could also impact the landscape entering next season. The Celtics are going to have to keep up with those changes and adapt to avoid being left in the dust, watching again from home while others battle for a trip to the Finals.
James has not only the experience but the proven disposition to shoulder the load alongside stars like Tatum and Brown. Horford previously filled that stabilizing veteran’s role before departing for Golden State. Adding a player of James’ caliber and expertise could not only fill that void, but also elevate the Celtics to another level entirely — one that might lead to another two-mile-long duckboat ride across Boston in 2027.
Opportunities alike don’t come around often, and even less frequently does an athlete like James choose to join forces with a long-time archrival.
Still, it’s not impossible.
