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Lakers newsletter: We’ll bite. Let’s talk about LeBron James and trades

Hey everyone, and welcome to the knockout stages of Lakers Newsletter Cup. The Lakers, of course, won’t be headed to Las Vegas for anything more than a quick bender this December, and to be honest, I’m pretty happy about that. The four days between games this week and the three days next week are some early season highlights for a road-weary reporter like myself.

But that idle time? It’s the devil’s playground. And in this case, there’s nothing more sinful than talking about LeBron James trades.

Banter clause

If the Lakers actually built momentum in a tight overtime loss to the Vegas-bound Atlanta Hawks and a win at home over the mostly awful Portland Trail Blazers, the time off in their schedule created a void for the talking heads to fill.

The gut-punch loss to Orlando, the “we’re still not good enough” vibes after an ugly second half against Denver, the helplessness against Phoenix’s shot-making and the two miserable clunkers in Minnesota and Miami, and well, people got some opinions.

In a bit of a cable special, one pundit has an opinion about James being traded on one show, another opines about it on another show and then a third takes it to his podcast and voila, a news cycle has been born.

James, who is away from the Lakers for personal reasons after missing Sunday’s game against Portland, is holding the cards here. The Lakers handed them to him this summer when they agreed to a no-trade clause.

So before anyone can fantasize about James gunning for another title with Stephen Curry in a Golden State Warriors uniform, James would have to say it’s what he wants. And while talk show after talk show can try to put a championship-above-all mindset onto James, there’s just not evidence that it exists.

Winning matters to James. Anyone who was around him while the Lakers were getting their teeth kicked in the last two weeks could see the frustration and anger. But if another championship was the sole driving factor, would James have signed an extension in 2022 after the Lakers missed the playoffs with a fatally flawed roster that included Russell Westbrook? Would he have declined to shop around more last summer before re-signing and giving the Lakers money back to create space for them to more easily make trades?

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James was not obligated to do any of these things. If ever a 39-year-old earned the right to have everything to make him happy, it’s James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and timeless force who still can swing games seemingly out of nowhere because of his greatness.

Now this runs the risk of being one of those stories that will look really bad if James asks out to chase another ring, but there’s zero evidence that’s in the cards.

Since he joined the Lakers, James has said he wants to finish his career with them.

From the Lakers’ perspective, the only thing that matters is whether or not James wants to be traded. They don’t have the leverage to shop him should they even want to because of the no-trade clause. He could tell the Lakers he’d waive it, but if he was so willing to let go of it, why did he ask for the clause in the first place?

None of this even accounts for Bronny James. All signs point to James wanting to win with the Lakers. Period.

Things could change and this one day could be the type of conversation that’s based in reality. But as of now, it’s just filler.

Song of the Week

“Don’t Mind Me” by Styrofoam Winos

I first heard this band on MJ Lenderman’s excellent live album, singing harmonies on “Long Black Veil,” and was reintroduced thanks to Steven Hyden’s list of favorite albums of 2024. I just love the vibes, toe-tapping and lo-fi. This is beer-cracking music at its finest — or maybe a $10 Cabernet in a party cup.