The Los Angeles Lakers re-committed to LeBron James with a two-year, $104 million extension and by drafting his eldest son, Bronny James.
But before they got here, things nearly unraveled at the February trade deadline when Lakers owner Jeanie Buss did not quickly turn down Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob’s call for James and instead deferred the decision to the superstar’s camp, according to ESPN.
If things go awry again this season for the Lakers, the Warriors are expected to make the calls again. Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes imagined what a Warriors package for James could look like.
Golden State Warriors receive: LeBron James
Los Angeles Lakers receive: Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Kevon Looney, 2026 first-round pick, 2028 first-round pick, 2030 first-round pick (1-20)
“The cost here is exorbitant, especially considering James is entering his age-40 season. Golden State is giving up all of the first-round equity it has left (swaps excluded) along with a potential star in Kuminga. And yet it still seems as if the Lakers would only consider taking back a package like this if James expressly demanded to be traded,” Hughes wrote.
Lakers’ Outlook if They Trade LeBron James
Hughes said, “The odds of a trade like this actually happening might seem like they’re somewhere in the million-to-one neighborhood,” but if for some reason it would go down, the Lakers would bet set up for a post-LeBron era.
Hughes’ proposed Warriors package is as complete as it gets with a former All-Star wing that could help them in the interim and young players plus distant draft picks that could set them up for the future.
Wiggins and Kuminga could make the D’Angelo Russell-Austin Reaves backcourt more playable with their athleticism to cover up defensive ground in the perimeter, while Anthony Davis becomes the focal point on both offense and defense.
Rich Paul Prevented LeBron James-to-Warriors Trade
According to Substack’s NBA insider Marc Stein, it was James’ powerful agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, who nixed the talks before they even got past the exploratory stage.
“It is believed that the Lakers would have reluctantly entertained trade conversations with the Warriors before last February’s trade deadline if James wanted them to seriously engage Golden State on a potential deal. Yet league sources say that the reported talks between the teams at the time never got that far in large part because James’ agent, Rich Paul, was adamantly opposed to the idea of James swapping Southern California for Northern California,” Stein wrote on August 18.
Paul was protective of James’ image, according to Stein.
“Sources say Paul implored both teams to scrap the concept — despite some owner-to-owner dialogue between the Warriors’ Joe Lacob and the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss and Green’s determination to lobby James to push for relocation to the Bay Area — largely because he wanted to insulate James from potential backlash over switching teams for the fourth time in his career,” Stein wrote.
James went on record, revealing the trade talks did not reach him until it was reported.
“It [the trade talks] didn’t go far at all,” James said on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” broadcast on February 18. “I actually heard about it when everybody else heard about it. Obviously, you know, Charles [Barkley] has been in the league, Kenny [Smith] has been in the league, Shaq has been in the league… and sometimes, there’s conversations that happen behind closed doors that you don’t even know about.”
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