With the Los Angeles Lakers currently in a slump, it wouldn't be trade rumor time if LeBron James wasn't in them. With James still playing basketball at a high level and still having a desire to win, many think that the Lakers' forward would want to move on from the team and go somewhere that could help him achieve his goals, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.
“I would be lying if I said that there haven’t been some conversations in the league (about), ‘Would LeBron at some point this year revisit that?’” Windhorst said. “Because you remember last year at the trade deadline, the Warriors called.”
The Warriors did indeed call last season to see if there was any chance that James would want to get traded. He decided to stay with the Lakers, and since then, the Lakers have been kicked out of the first round of the playoffs, Darvin Ham was fired, JJ Redick was hired, and the team is stuck in limbo this season.
“Twice in the last 10 months, LeBron has had an opportunity to leave the Lakers,” Windhorst said. “One, at the trade deadline last year when the Warriors called. The Lakers went to LeBron and said, ‘Do you seriously wanna get traded?’ He said, ‘No.’ Last summer he became a free agent. He re-signed with the Lakers.
“LeBron has repeatedly made it clear he wants to be a Laker. And if that’s the case, he’s got a no-trade clause. There’s nothin’ really to talk about.”
Will LeBron James be traded?
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) in action against the Atlanta Hawks in overtime at State Farm Arena.
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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There's a very good chance that LeBron James will not get traded, and there are a few factors leading to that decision. One, James does have a no-trade clause, which means he's ultimately allowed to choose what team he wants to go to. Luckily for him, the Lakers and his agent, Rich Paul, shut down any idea of him being traded to the Warriors last season when they were interested, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.
Another thing to consider with James is that he's always talked about the desire to play with Bronny, and now he actually has that opportunity. It's not certain if he'd be willing to go to another team to sacrifice this year playing with his son. If anything, he may want to wait until next season to make a decision like that, but who knows if he'll still be in the league then.
As of now, James getting traded seems unlikely, but crazier things have happened.