The Lakers Should Consider Trading LeBron James & Anthony Davis

Due to the implementation of the play-in format, now more than ever teams are going the competitive route, believing themselves to have a fighter’s chance to make a Finals run, even if they’re below a .500 record by a significant margin.

In fact, it’s become far easier to count the teams that are currently undergoing a full rebuild, of which only the Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons, and Houston Rockets fit that description. Even the Portland Trail Blazers are expecting a quick turnaround this coming summer after a hectic trade deadline.

Sure, one might argue more teams would benefit from the rebuilding route, but as of now, even clubs like the Sacramento Kings and New York Knicks are trying to win. Well, they were before failing to reach the playoffs, but their roster constructions suggest another attempt will follow next season.

In short, the league is in a great place competitively. And that’s why the Los Angeles Lakers should consider trading LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

If your reaction is “Wait, what? The most famous NBA team worldwide should trade the most recognizable basketball superstar since Michael Jordan? And his superstar sidekick?”, then that is entirely fair.

On the surface, it may sound entirely illogical. And for the sake of full transparency, it’s not going to happen. James is almost too big a name to trade, and the PR hit the organization would take on a global scale would be overwhelming.

With that caveat out of the way, however, there’s merit in exploring this path of what most would deem insanity, seen purely from a basketball perspective.

Using the competitive field for own gain

With the vast majority of the league’s teams in win-now mode, now is the perfect time for teams outside the playoff picture to cash in on their biggest assets, as teams trying to make the Finals would pay through the nose for a leg up on the competition. And what team out there can offer better, or more influential stars, than Los Angeles?

The Lakers, winners of just 33 games this season, aren’t exactly projected to improve in the 2022-2023 campaign, especially with last summer’s primary acquisition – Russell Westbrook – likely picking up his player option worth $47 million this summer.

Add that to the James’ age and the uncertainty of Davis’ durability, and it’s enough of a bad mix in Tinseltown that something’s got to give.

Trading Westbrook on that contract will be an epic challenge where assets are far more likely to be relinquished from the side of the Lakers, than a potential trade partner. Westbrook, for all his awards and Hall of Fame résumé, has become a poor asset, which isn’t going to help James and Davis squeeze out another championship before age becomes too much of a factor for the former. And relinquishing assets to move off of Westbrook also limits their position significantly.

Therefore, for once, the Lakers should consider prioritizing themselves by dangling two all-time great players, one of which might go down as the best to ever do it, to initiate a new era of Lakers basketball. An era that starts by taking a step back for a few years to build from the ground up, using assets acquired by the move of the two players who helped bring them a championship in 2020.

Would the Miami Heat, currently projected as the fourth-leading candidate to win the championship, not be interested in re-introducing James to their team and getting out ahead of the competition for the 2023 playoffs? What about the Philadelphia 76ers, projected as the seventh-leading Finals winner? Surely, the Phoenix Suns would also have certain considerations if they fail to win a ring yet again? The Lakers would have no shortage of interested parties.

The price tag, obviously, needs to be steep.

Teams that feel they’re a player away from winning it all should be willing to sacrifice a heavy toll of young players and draft picks to get either James or Davis into the fold, with the notion that James likely has more value due to his durability, despite his advanced age.

The Lakers shouldn’t settle for untested young players where the developmental path is filled with question marks. James Bouknight for example, while a solid prospect, is not enough of a known commodity due to his modest 304 career minutes.

Scottie Barnes, however, is a known prospect and a Rookie Of the Year winner, meaning the Lakers organization knows what type of player he is, and therefore he should be the profile that the organization seeks.

(Stop typing angry emails, Raptors fans. It was merely an example.)

Surviving post-LeBron

Let’s be honest for a second. Trading Davis, who has played 76 regular season games over the past two seasons, is less of a risk than moving off of James. There’s merit in moving off a player who struggle to make it to the floor, and there’s logic in doing so now, while he’s still young enough to course correct his career.

Moving off James is the big challenge. For one, the Lakers will have to explain such a decision to the millions upon millions of fans they have worldwide, as well as the tens of millions of fans James has on his own. After all, the Lakers are known for winning. They’re known to continuously put a product on the floor that has a chance to find themselves in the Finals by the end of the season.

Trading James paints a picture of a divergence of that path, which it is for the short-term, but not in the long-term. Having said that, not many fans deal with the long-term, especially those who are used to championships and constant glory.

As such, the Lakers must understand how to sell a plan of taking one step back, to later take two forward. That is not easy, regardless of how much sense it makes, and it underlines a need for organizational acceptance from top to bottom. Everyone has to be on the same page, and ready to accept at least a few years of criticism and backlash.

Additionally, the organization needs to be ready to accept the potential consequences of Klutch Sports directing their clientele elsewhere, if Davis and James aren’t on board with the idea of getting moved to new teams.

(The optimal solution here would be constant communication, and for both James and Davis to be open to new destinations. But that’s obviously completely unknowns at this point.)

Evidently, this isn’t an easy decision. Nor is it one to take lightly. It needs planning, it needs at least a few hundred internal meetings to set up, and it all needs to be a concept that the organization buys into.

All that said, as things stand right now, after a season of great disappointment, the Lakers might just be able to pull this off and get an absolute haul by daring to pull the trigger.

James just averaged over 30 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Davis netted 23 points, 10 rebounds and over two blocks when healthy.

The allure is still there, and teams deep in the hunt would be crazy to not consider swinging big for an immense upgrade. If executed properly, the Lakers could walk away with an absolute treasure trove of assets, potentially without getting significantly worse next season. After all, matching 33 wins isn’t the most difficult mission in the NBA.

As for Westbrook, he sticks around as an expiring contract. He’s given the green light for a full season to do whatever he wishes, and after the conclusion of the 2022-2023 season, he’s no longer the concern of the Lakers. Optimistically, the Lakers might even have the option to sign-and-trade him to a team that wants to pay him, getting a smaller asset in return for playing ball. Crazier things have happened in this league.

Trading LeBron James and Anthony Davis, though, might be the craziest thing to ever happen, when you consider the marketability of both.

But in terms of pure basketball, which after all is still the primary business the Lakers are in, there is logic to this approach. It just needs to be handled the right way.