Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis … LeBron James?
The soap opera that is summer in the NBA already was going to be filled with drama, as Irving, Durant and Davis are all potentially going to be on the move through either free agency or trade. James, meanwhile, figured to play a quiet role if any one year after leaving Cleveland to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.
But things can quickly change in the NBA, and some are speculating the superstar could also be among the future Hall of Famers to get a change of address this offeason. NBC Sports’ Tom Haberstroh floated the idea of a swap between the Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers involving James and … Ben Simmons.
Haberstroh wrote: It’s early in that process. Leonard’s shot just fell through the net. But one Western Conference executive brought up a name that could be a Simmons trade target: LeBron James.
“I think they very well might explore that,” said a rival executive of Philadelphia.
Well, that’s interesting — and probably unlikely, at least for now. As Haberstroh also notes, there are complications to any potential mega-trade. Salary cap issues complicate the matter more than anything, and the Lakers likely would have to take on another max-level player in order to make the money work. But we’ve seen in the past that these sorts of things can come together fairly quickly, and according to an in-season report, trading James is something the Lakers have already contemplated.
The thought certainly is out there, and it appears to be gaining steam. Now, we wait and see whether James once again ends up dominating basketball’s silly season.
