Getty LeBron James #6 of Los Angeles Lakers reacts during action against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center
On multiple occasions, LeBron James has changed the game regarding free agency in the NBA. First, he left his home state team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, to take his talent to South Beach and join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat. Then he became the ‘godfather of one-year deals‘ by leaving money on the table to allow flexibility and leverage and sign for one year with teams, which made it surprising when this August, James signed a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Before signing the extension, James was trying to use negotiations as leverage and to force Los Angeles to trade picks to acquire Kyrie Irving. However, no trade happened, and James re-signed without the Lakers getting a deal done. Now, he is unable to be traded this season, but on January 8, Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney reported that executives around the league are preparing for James to force a trade this offseason. In Deveney’s January 8 report, he listed teams that could be on the other end of a LeBron James trade, and the Brooklyn Nets were among them.
Nets Named as Potential Landing Spot for LeBron James
Deveney spoke with a Western Conference executive, who noted that Durant and James would have to want to play together and what it would take to get a deal done.
“LeBron would have to be interested in playing with Kevin Durant. Both of those guys, at this point of their careers, they have been such great competitors, and both of them want to finish out their time in the NBA strong, want to change the narrative a little bit on the way the last few years have gone. They have never been very close as friends but they have a lot of respect for each other. But do you trade Kyrie? Probably, if they wanted to do a trade, they’d move Ben Simmons to L.A., but Simmons is a Klutch guy so you’d have to see how that plays out,” the Western Conference executive told Deveney.
Deveney also listed what a potential trade between the Nets and Lakers could look like to bring King James to Brooklyn.
“Potential deal: Simmons, Day’Ron Sharpe and Cam Thomas for James. There would have to be some trepidation about adding Simmons, given the way his last two seasons have gone, but it is a high-reward gamble for the Lakers if Simmons can get back some of the confidence from his early NBA days,” Deveney wrote.
Kevin Durant Co-Host Also Urges Nets to Trade for LeBron James
Deveney’s report wasn’t the only instance that LeBron was linked to Brooklyn on Sunday, January 8. After Sam Amick reported for The Athletic that James’ patience with the organization is waning, Eddie Gonzalez co-host of The ETCs with Kevin Durant, took to Twitter to share a picture with a photoshopped image of LeBron James in a black Nets number six jersey. No further context was offered, it still remains unlikely and is only notable due to Gonzalez’s connection to Durant.
Would LeBron and KD ever consider joining forces together in Brooklyn? Now may be the time in LeBron’s career that the two competitive superstars would welcome the idea of being teammates rather than competitors. They’d have to give up a lot to get James in a trade, but its hard not to at least consider the idea of bringing him to the borough of Brooklyn to ball alongside Kevin Durant.