Getty Lakers superstar LeBron James on January 16, 2023
If LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers decide to part ways this summer, the purple and gold can trade the King for a $257 million superstar and two role players.
On January 16, David Aldridge of The Athletic proposed a hypothetical trade between the Lakers and Chicago Bulls. Los Angeles would send James to Chicago for DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso and Patrick Williams in Aldridge’s theoretical deal.
“The Bulls’ retool around DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine has hit a bumpy patch, but the front office has shown an ability to recalibrate on the fly. LaVine is six years younger than the 33-year-old DeRozan, so one guesses Chicago would be more inclined to hold onto him. Yet the Compton-born-and-raised DeRozan is still a viable, productive co-star, if not a leading man. DeRozan and the Lakers courted in 2021 before he agreed to the sign-and-trade deal with Chicago. DeRozan and Davis could create all kinds of pick-and-roll mayhem for opponents, getting the Lakers’ opponents into the free-throw penalty early and often. One guesses L.A. would also love to reacquire Alex Caruso, who signed a four-year, $37 million contract with Chicago in 2021 when the Lakers, inexplicably, wouldn’t pay him the modest bump in salary he’d earned in helping them to the 2020 Bubble title in Orlando. He would slide right into the starting point guard spot next to DeRozan in a remade Lakers backcourt. Patrick Williams has yet to live up to being the fourth pick of the 2020 draft, but he’s still a bouncy forward who could help L.A. out on the glass and on defense,” Aldridge wrote.
“Conversely, James, LaVine and a re-signed Nikola Vučević could be quite ornery in the half court. If Lonzo Ball ever did get healthy enough to join them, there could be all kinds of fun in the Windy City on cold winter nights, with James and Ball taking turns throwing oops to LaVine.”
James, 38, signed a two-year, $97.1 million extension with the Lakers in August 2022. LBJ has a player option for the 2024-25 season worth $50.7 million. The four-time MVP is ineligible to be traded this season because the second year of his extension exceeds a 5% raise. However, James can be traded this summer.
LeBron James Has Always Had a Soft Spot for Chicago
In a January 9 column called “NBA Execs Advised to ‘Be Prepared’ on Lakers-LeBron James Trade,” Heavy Sports senior insider Sean Deveney published quotes he received from an anonymous Western Conference executive. The exec said James “has always had a soft spot for Chicago.”
James’ childhood idol, Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, won six titles and six Finals MVPs with the Bulls in the ’90s.
Deveney also reported in his article that multiple teams are preparing for the possibility that James could request a trade from the Lakers after this season. Since winning the championship in 2020, Los Angeles has struggled despite James’ dominant play.
“It’s in the background if you think you have a chance at him. There are preparations being made just in case. You have to make them. Like the Boy Scouts used to say, ‘Be Prepared,’” one general manager told Deveney. “It will not be an easy thing to do and there are a lot of factors. There’s still a chance the Lakers make a trade this year or that something clicks and they go on a run. You can’t count that out. And they will have a chance to do something that (James) likes in free agency this summer, something that could change the outlook there.
“But since he went to L.A. (in 2018), there has been this certainty that he was going to finish up (his career) in Los Angeles, that he wanted to be an entertainment mogul and that he needed to be in Hollywood for that. He is realizing that he is only going to get one shot at how he finishes his basketball career, though, and that the movie stuff will always be there. He doesn’t want his time playing basketball to end missing the playoffs every year for the Lakers.”
1 NBA Insider Hears That LeBron James Wants to Retire With the Lakers
Zach Lowe of ESPN is hearing that James wants to retire with the Lakers. Even though James is frustrated with losing, living in sunny Los Angeles and being close to his family are crucial to the four-time Finals MVP.
James’ first son, Bronny, will graduate high school this year, but his second son, Bryce, is just a sophomore at Sierra Canyon School. James’ wife and daughter also live in Los Angeles.
“I keep hearing he wants to stay with the Lakers,” Lowe said on his podcast on January 10. “He wants to finish his career with the Lakers. His comments, though, should be interpreted as his patience is not infinite, and if this is just a continued morass of losing, maybe that changes. But if you force me to bet, I’d still bet on him finishing his career with the Lakers. And I’d feel pretty confident in that.”