At the end of last month, Lakers forward LeBron James sent out an hourglass emoji on social media that led to plenty of speculation — and eventually an unsuccessful trade pursuit by the Warriors. Later that week in New York, James made some not-so-subtle comments about his love for playing in Madison Square Garden and said he considered signing with the Knicks as a free agent in 2010.
While James may have been attempting to put pressure on L.A.’s front office by using New York as leverage, the Knicks haven’t had any internal discussions about pursuing him this summer, a league source tells Sam Amick, Anthony Slater and Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
As The Athletic’s authors explain, the Knicks won’t have cap room in free agency to make a run at James if he declines his $51.4MM player option, and shedding salaries would mean parting with important rotation players. The Knicks view that possibility as a “serious setback to their long-term plan.”
Los Angeles, meanwhile, has no desire to trade James, and wants him to retire a Laker, multiple team sources tell The Athletic. For his part, James recently informed the team’s brass he wants to stay, per The Athletic’s report.
Here’s more on the Lakers, all from Amick, Slater and Buha:
- Rival executives have become “increasingly convinced” that the 39-year-old superstar may want out of L.A., and view drafting his son Bronny James as something of a starting point to pursuing LeBron, according to The Athletic’s trio. James has spoken many times over the years about his desire to play in the NBA with his son. The Lakers are also open to the possibility of adding Bronny to keep LeBron happy, as that’s a priority for the organization, a high-ranking team source tells the authors.
- According to The Athletic, James has long been in favor of adding a star-level ball-handler in the backcourt — hence 2021 trade for Russell Westbrook, which obviously worked out poorly. James pushed the front office to pursue Kyrie Irving over multiple transaction windows in the past, and supported the idea of trading for Dejounte Murray (Hawks) or Zach LaVine (Bulls) — two fellow Klutch clients — prior to this season’s deadline, sources tell Amick, Slater and Buha.
- The Lakers will have three first-round picks available to trade this summer after standing pat at the deadline — either 2024 or 2025 (New Orleans can acquire this year’s pick or defer it to next year), plus 2029 and 2031. As Buha previously reported, L.A. would ideally like to use those draft assets for Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers), Trae Young (Hawks) or Irving (Mavericks), though it’s unclear how many of those players – if any – will actually be available on the trade market this offseason. For what it’s worth, rival teams have been speculating that Atlanta might be willing to part with Young after holding onto Murray at the deadline.
Would it work if D’Angelo Russel picked up his option then the Lakers combined him with Hachimura and Vincent along with picks for Trae Young? If not the Lakers could give up their boy Reaves in Russell’s place.
The Lakers could pivot and try to make a run at Garland instead of Mitchell. Hachimura, Vincent and Hood-Shufino plus less picks for Garland.
3 first round pick, 2 literally years away is not gonna be an offer that gets trae young, it is legitimately baffling how little Lakers fans understand trade value
I’m not a Lakers fan, just wondered if the trade would be legit as a sign and trade.
If it’s a pick up of an option, yes. If he were to resign with the Lakers, he would have to be the only player going out in the deal.
Keep him not worth 3 1st and salary let alone players to match lol
As a objective fan of the game the 2nd scenario works. The Lakers get a young, very good lead ball handler that they can build around after LeBron retires and the Cavs get a big wing that can play some D and hit some shots along with two guys in Reaves and Vincent that pair well with Mitchell. The Cavs would also recoup some of the draft equity they lost in the Mitchell trade.
3 1st round picks after Lebron stops playing are high value picks but they don’t have the enticing players to trade back to ATL.
I’d love to see Trae on the Spurs with Wemby.
Nope, trae youngs D is on par with James though. That’s not working well even if it was enough.
lol draft his useless son that averages 5 ppg.
As if the Lakers didn’t suffer enough when they got talked into drafting Lonzo Ball a few years back. Now they’ll end up drafting 5.0 just to shut LeFlop’s trap. Unbelievable.
Kyrie loves it in Dallas and Luka and Kyrie have become close friends. It’s more likely that Lebron ends up in Dallas than vice versa.
No no noooo. No NY no NY no …..
He’s only worth it to Lakers ….
We Love Precious ……. yeees
link to nbaanalysis.net
If Bronny is drafted to somewhere like Portland, it’s highly likely LeBron stays in LA.
If Bronny is drafted to a major market, or Cleveland, I think LeBron leaves the Lakers.
If the Lakers draft Bronny, LeBron retires a Laker.
That’s how I see it.
If Bronny isn’t drafted at all, LeBron will cry collusion.
Precious has been a great add on during the trade. I hope he stays long term. Only time will tell.