LeBron James to Dallas?
I know, you think this is clickbait. But let me offer you two pieces of evidence. First, Luka Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, against his will, a year after leading the Mavericks to the NBA Finals. We must accept that we now live in a world of limitless, batshit-crazy possibilities with this franchise, in a league that is already pretty wild. Second, venerable reporters who are in the know in Lakerland keep bringing this possibility up, even if we’ve heard this talk before.
Jovan Buha on LeBron James:
There has been some buzz I will say in the general NBA ether over the last week or two with LeBron and Dallas… If he does ask out… I would say keep an eye on Dallas…
(via @jovanbuha, h/t @KevinGraySports)
pic.twitter.com/SrH00IUfFE
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) June 30, 2025
Obvious caveat: LeBron James is unlikely to be traded anywhere. He just opted in to the last year of a contract that will pay him $52.6 million next season, and he has a full no-trade clause. But because it is LeBron, that’s not all he did. His agent, Rich Paul, released an accompanying statement to ESPN’s Shams Charania:
“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul told ESPN. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie and Rob and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career. We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what’s best for him.”
Peak LeBron. Lest anyone forget, the Lakers traded Anthony Davis for Doncic, a younger, better player. There are growing pains when a player, especially a ball-dominant one, suddenly appears in your rotation. (Remember Kyrie Irving’s first few months after he arrived in Dallas?) But the Lakers got better when they traded for Doncic. Do James and Paul somehow think the Lakers are not focused solely on winning now because Nico Harrison was unable to pry more draft picks from Pelinka? The Lakers were trying to trade picks for center Mark Williams at the deadline before a failed physical nixed the deal. It is true that Doncic is younger than Davis. That is the only way this trade could be construed as one with “an eye to the future.”
Still, let’s take this statement at face value. Normally when a club has shifted in that direction, as James apparently believes Los Angeles has, it makes sense for a ring-chasing veteran to jump ship. The Lakers got smacked in the first round in their maiden playoff voyage with Doncic and James. As constructed, they’re in the thick gaggle of teams in the Western Conference on the rung below Oklahoma City. (Perhaps Houston has separated itself a bit after acquiring Kevin Durant; we shall see). Given that, maybe James believes his chances for one last ring in his 40s are better elsewhere.
Problem: James opted in to the final year of his contract, the first time in his career he has done so when the opportunity presented itself. That will make it infinitely more difficult for another team to acquire him. He also made it clear that he will continue to be vocal about what the front office does or doesn’t need to do to keep him happy, because why not make this more difficult?
I graduated high school the same year as LeBron, and like the majority of you, I have always had a love/hate relationship with his empire. He’s the most exhilarating athlete I’ve ever seen, period. But he has come to typify the stereotypically self-obsessed millennial. Sure, Michael Jordan and Brett Favre retired and unretired; it isn’t unheard of for there to be a little drama attached to the twilight years of a legend’s career. But with LeBron, it has always felt to me like he has an obsession with narrative. Like he is very aware of and concerned about how he is perceived, how this–whatever “this” is at the moment–will all look in a manicured documentary. How his “decisions” and statements can be turned into Hollywood-esque content with cool lighting and music.
He seems shockingly insecure, which I’ve always assumed was the reason for his quest to make every single NBA moment about him. Like a good millennial, though, he also wants to make sure you know he doesn’t care what you think of him. He’s much better at the former than the latter. Again, like all of the greats before him, he’s an egomaniac. He just happens to be an egomaniac very much of my generation.
Given all of that, can you really dismiss the idea of LeBron James glomming onto the biggest story in basketball over the last handful of years? Because James coming to Dallas wouldn’t just make him part of Luka Doncic’s story. He would also be part of Cooper Flagg’s journey. How exciting! I think Flagg will be leading SportsCenter most nights by around February. What better way for a soon-to-be 41-year-old to stay in the spotlight than to come along for the ride?
You can hear it now, can’t you? Hey, who is that flushing a lob from the rookie? It’s LeBron James! Oh, wow, Let’s talk about him for a second. Let’s talk about the impact James is having on Flagg. Before long, every great thing Flagg accomplishes will somehow be attributed to those plane rides in the lone season he spent with James. When Flagg finishes pulling the Mavericks out of what was going to be a protracted death spiral, LeBron’s name will be right there along with him. What better scenario for someone with a savior complex?
Maybe you think I’m extrapolating a little too much. I’ve never met LeBron, after all, and I doubt I ever will. Just know that there is a whole lot of basketball appeal, too. Talent, for one; the Mavericks’ roster may be a mishmash, but it’s also considerably deeper than the Lakers’. That said, the people in Dallas might matter as much as what they can do. James didn’t want to lose Davis in Los Angeles, and he has expressed a desire to reunite with Irving, whom he reunited with after they fell out in Cleveland. The Mavericks have added former Lakers head coach Frank Vogel to their staff, whom James won a title with in 2020. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was an assistant on that team, and Marc Stein has reported that two other assistants on that squad, Phil Handy and Mike Penberthy, could be Dallas-bound as well. And you may have heard that Harrison is a Nike guy. So, too, is The King. That’s as LeBron-friendly an ecosystem as could exist, aside from his son joining the roster. Speaking of, did you hear the one about how Harrison “is like an uncle” to Bronny James? Yeah, he’d probably come along too, somehow.
Whether the Mavericks should be interested in this is a different question. They could do it, and not many teams are in that position. Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, and Klay Thompson would be enough to make the money work. Other stuff would be involved, to be sure, but let’s just take that as it is. Harrison mentioned a “three- to four-year window” when he traded for Davis, and this would tighten that window even further. Maybe LeBron has more than one season left, but that is anything but a given. Keeping in mind that Irving is expected to miss roughly half of the regular season, the question becomes whether a trade for LeBron moves Dallas close enough to OKC to part with at least two core pieces of a longer-term project in Washington and Gafford. Does James give you enough of a boost, particularly while Irving is sidelined, to make this worth it? Suppose the postseason starting and closing lineup becomes Lively, Davis, James, Flagg, and Irving. Is that something you might be interested in?
Short-term as it would be, exhausting as James might be, the Mavericks have to strongly consider it if the opportunity presents itself. In an alternate universe, I would like to see Dallas strip the roster and load up on assets to build around Flagg and Lively. But this isn’t that one; Harrison targeted Davis and isn’t about to move him. So if you aren’t going to go that direction, then the middle ground starts to make little sense. Because we know fortune favors the bold, Harrison’s luck falling into Flagg has availed him to a tremendous number of possibilities here. Because no matter what happens, the Mavericks will have an 18-year-old generational talent on a cheapish contract, and that will be enough to get most of the fans back.
So, why not? I’m positive that even Patrick Dumont has heard of LeBron James, so this won’t take as much explaining from Nico as other moves have. Maybe that’s the threshold for trades now: has Dumont heard of the player? It is impossible to get a read on how this front office operates, or how other teams in the league–specifically, you know, the Lakers–would deal with Harrison. What we do know is one end of this hypothetical transaction involves a disgruntled, transcendent athlete who really loves to make a big story all about him. The other features a delusional executive living in his own world, one in which he believes things are going very well.
So, sure, fine. Do it. We need this. We need LeBron complaining in April about Nico’s roster. We need to parse every piece of Flagg’s body language to develop the narrative that he’s quietly very tired of LeBron’s leadership. We need puff pieces about how Kyrie and LeBron are figuring each other out in the twilight of their careers and/or anonymously sourced reports that nothing has changed more than a decade after they broke up. Give us all of it.
Harrison was right. I’m finally starting to see the vision.
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Jake Kemp
Jake Kemp
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Jake Kemp covers the Cowboys and Mavericks for StrongSide. He is a lifelong Dallas sports fan who previously worked for…