Getty Could LeBron James land in New York?
The New York Knicks are in a bit of a crossroads this season as they are sitting between contention for the NBA play-in tournament or slipping further and further to the bottom of the standings.
A decision was made on February 23 to allow Kemba Walker to sit out the remainder of the year to get healthy and New York will move forward with the other point guards on the roster. There’s a vocal part of the fanbase hoping that means Miles McBride could get some playing time, but there’s no telling if that will be the case.
Something the Knicks can poise themselves for is a retool in the offseason, and it could come from a very unlikely source. Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James said he would be going wherever his son Bronny James goes, which means a team will essentially be able to land the star by drafting his son. This would be a 40-year-old version of him, and Father Time does eventually catch up with everybody.
Another option would be to make a trade, and there’s a proposal that would land James in the Big Apple.
LeBron to New York
GettyLeBron James with Russell Westbrook.
Landing a player like James can certainly be seen as a pipe dream to many fans, but remember that he does consider Madison Square Garden to be one of his favorite places to play.
Getting him would require a lot of moving parts, and it’d be a huge makeover for the Knicks, and it might not be worth it on that end. Then again, a talent like LeBron James only comes around so often. Heavy’s Jonathan Adams floated this as a possibility:
“One potential trade option would be for the Knicks to send Julius Randle, Evan Fournier, Obi Toppin and Cam Reddish to the Lakers in exchange for James. Instead of Barrett, the Knicks would send multiple first-round picks to the Lakers.”
In this scenario, the Knicks would hold onto Barrett and dump Fournier, Toppin, Randle and Reddish. Toppin would be a tough one to let go, but fans might not have the same type of reaction to the others going, especially with Randle’s up and down year.
This seems like a very unlikely scenario that will play out here, but there’s really no telling what can happen if the right offer comes around.
Will LeBron Want That?
GettyThe Lakers could be looking to move LeBron James.
James told Charles Oakley that he wouldn’t play for the Knicks because of their owner James Dolan.
“I didn’t do anything to this man,” Oakley wrote in his book, via Brad Botkin of CBS Sports. “What did I ever say that was so bad that he would ignore me like that? I wondered. Man, I wanted to hit him in the head. I walked back to LeBron and said, ‘This mother—er (Dolan) wouldn’t shake my hand.’ All LeBron said was: ‘This is why I’m never going to New York.’”
James was courted heavily by the Knicks when he hit free agency the first time before he eventually landed with the Miami Heat. It’s not clear if this bad blood is still going on, but if it is then James might not like being traded to the Knicks.