A favorite has emerged in the case that LeBron James gets traded this offseason.
James has exercised his $52.6 million option for next season, we learned on Sunday. But James’ agent indicated that LeBron might be looking to be traded so that he can have the best chance of winning a championship.
On Sunday, Lakers reporter Jovan Buha mentioned four teams that could make sense for James: the Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors.
“I will say that there’s been some LeBron and Dallas buzz going on a couple years now,” Buha said. “There has been some buzz in the general NBA ether over the last week or two with LeBron and Dallas. If you just look at the situation, they have AD, they have Kyrie, they have Jason Kidd …”
The Dallas Mavericks are a team to keep an eye on if LeBron James requests a trade, per @jovanbuha
(h/t @KevinGraySports / @NationMffl )
pic.twitter.com/YaB7x0iRhg
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 30, 2025
Additionally, SportsBetting.ag has posted odds for the most likely destinations if James gets traded. They have the Mavericks favored. Their top four teams all mesh with what Buha had listed as well.
Below are teams with odds of 10/1 or lower:
Dallas Mavericks 5/2
Cleveland Cavaliers 4/1
Golden State Warriors 5/1
New York Knicks 6/1
San Antonio Spurs 8/1
Los Angeles Clippers 10/1
Philadelphia 76ers 10/1
Like Buha said, the Mavericks make sense for several reasons considering they already have Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, both of whom James has teamed with in the past. They also have Jason Kidd as their head coach, who previously coached James as an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers went 50-32 in the most recent season, which tied for the third-best record in the West. They lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Minnesota Timberwolves. They were far off the record of the 68-14 Oklahoma City Thunder, which won the NBA championship.