If LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers decide to end their partnership, the Golden State Warriors have the easiest path to trading for the future Hall of Famer, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic.
Katz singled out Jimmy Butler as the Warriors’ obvious salary match for James.
“Butler makes a tad more than James does, marking the trade legal, though if it were constructed this way, it would hard cap the Lakers at the first apron, since they’d be absorbing more money than they send out in a deal. If the Lakers were fine with that, they could execute the one-for-one trade,” Katz wrote.
And even if the Lakers want to duck the first apron, roping in a third team would not be hard for the Warriors.
“Golden State and Los Angeles could find a third team willing to take on one of the Lakers’ minimum salaries (say, Jordan Goodwin’s) without giving any salary back. This way, the total money leaving the purple and gold is above Butler’s incoming salary,” Katz wrote.
The Warriors still have plenty of draft capita (three second-round picks) to incentivize a team with cap room, such as the Brooklyn Nets to absorb Goodwin’s $2.4 million salary.
LeBron James Hints at Possible Trade Demand
GettyWill LeBron James leave Luka Doncic?
James sent a veiled threat to the Lakers through his agent, Rich Paul, Klutch Sports CEO, after picking up his $52.6 million player option.
“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul told ESPN. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.”
The Lakers made a seismic organizational pivot from James when they traded for Doncic, swapping Anthony Davis, James’ closest friend on the team and a fellow Klutch Sports client. Upon Doncic’s arrival, the Lakers quickly catered to his demands, leading to the rescinded Mark Williams trade, which didn’t go unnoticed in James’ camp.
“We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future,” Paul continued. “We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what’s best for him.”
It remains to be seen how James feel about the Lakers moves in free agency.
The Lakers have lost Dorian Finney-Smith, their top 3-and-D wing and replaced him with an unproven 23-year-old Jake LaRavia. And their answer for their most pressing need at center was to sign former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton, whose questionable work ethic led to the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers souring on him.
But the Lakers could not have done any better than Ayton at $8.3 million price point, the remaining portion of their non-taxpayer midlevel exception after accounting LaRavia’s two-year, $12 million deal.
Warriors Pursued LeBron James Last Year
GettyKlutch Sports’ Rich Paul rejected the Warriors’ attempt to trade for LeBron James last year.
The Warriors pursued James last year, but they got rebuffed. They have a higher chance of getting traction now if they are going to revisit it.
“It (trade talks) didn’t go far at all,” James said on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” broadcast on February 18, 2024. “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.”
According to Substack’s NBA insider Marc Stein, it was Paul 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.
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.
But with the Lakers having a new franchise player and new majority owner, the circumstances have changed for James and the Warriors.
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