The Los Angeles Lakers flipped the future on its head Saturday night by making Anthony Davis the centerpiece of a trade with the Dallas Mavericks for megastar Luka Doncic.
First in the line of the natural questions to follow is: What is to become of LeBron James? The 40-year-old forward is under contract through 2026-27, but the final season of that deal is a player option. That means James can say goodbye to L.A. of his own accord this summer and the Lakers will get nothing in return.
Those circumstances might argue for a trade in the next four days before the Feb. 6 deadline passes, except for the fact that James is one of two players (Bradley Beal of the Phoenix Suns) with a no-trade clause in his current contract. That means Los Angeles can’t send him anywhere he doesn’t want to go.
The Lakers’ trade for Doncic was far less a move for right now than it was a play for the next decade. As such, James was perhaps for the first time not at the top of mind for the front office when it made the transaction. In fact, Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported that James was unaware the Davis-Doncic trade was in the works until it was official.
And while a Doncic-James duo is terrifying at first thought, both men are ball-dominant and offense-first superstars who may not mesh easily early on. Beyond that, the Lakers haven’t built a roster around the the two that necessarily maximizes what they can accomplish together.
For those reasons, and others, both the Lakers and James might be better off if they make a trade. The relevant question is what kind of deal is feasible and might be accepted by both sides?
LeBron James Makes Less Sense as Partner for Luka Doncic Than Jaylen Brown
GettyLos Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
Colin Keane of The Sporting News took a crack at answering that question by authoring a trade pitch on Sunday that would see the Lakers send James to the Boston Celtics in return for four-time All-Star and reigning NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown.
“[James] and [Doncic] aren’t a great fit from a basketball standpoint,” Keane wrote. “If the Lakers were serious about trading [James], they’d want to get a prime-aged player in return — preferably a wing or big — who fits better with Doncic’s timeline. Enter the Celtics, who are eyeing a repeat but haven’t looked amazing yet this season. Part of Boston’s slight regression in 2024-25 has been the play of Jaylen Brown who, despite being named an All-Star reserve, hasn’t looked as good as he did last season.”
One can make the argument that James remains just as good at 40 years old as Brown is at 28. However, a straight-up swap would favor the Lakers given the fact that Brown is in his prime and James may have just two or three years left before retirement. That means the Lakers’ second tradable first-round pick (2031) that they didn’t give up in the Doncic deal would probably have to come into play.
Lakers Can Help Incentivize Celtics to Deal Jaylen Brown for LeBron James
GettyJaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics.
Even still, that package might not make sense for Boston. The draft pick in question remains six years out and creating a duo of Doncic and Brown in L.A. doesn’t offer a ton of hope that it would fall into the lottery range, let alone the top-10 or even higher.
But Keane pointed out that there is some advantage to the Celtics from a salary cap perspective. Boston’s team, as constructed, probably can’t sustain financially beyond another year or two. At that point, some of the salary is going to have to go.
If the Celtics can shed that salary now in return for James, who keeps them a title contender for the next couple of years at roughly the same price, it gives the team more flexibility to reshuffle the roster around star Jayson Tatum a couple of seasons down the road.
“By trading Brown to the Lakers for [James], the Celtics wouldn’t sacrifice their capacity to repeat — or even three-peat — and they’d set themselves up for a much more spacious cap situation moving forward,” Keane continued.
James would have to sign off on such an agreement. And while he appeared content to finish his career on a competitive (if not truly contending) Lakers team with his son Bronny James at the end of the bench/with the franchise’s G League affiliate, the elder James may jump at the chance to add another ring to his resumé.
Legacy is clearly important to James, and winning one more championship would pull him even with Kobe Bryant, who won five rings during his NBA career, and one behind Michael Jordan with six championships.
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