Despite rampant speculation about **LeBron James**‘ future with the Lakers, it’s expected that he will be with the organization for training camp, Dan Woike and Joe Vardon of The Athletic report.
Those expectations come from both members of the Lakers organization and people close to the 40-year-old superstar. There have been no discussions regarding trade or buyout scenarios between James’ representatives and the team’s front office, according to The Athletic duo.
This essentially confirms an ESPN report that his agent, Rich Paul, hasn’t asked the Lakers to trade James following his decision to exercise a $52.6MM player option for next season. The Athletic’s sources hear the Lakers have received no indication from James or his representatives that he would request a trade or ask for a buyout.
Even if he eventually does seek to leave the Lakers, there are major roadblocks toward reaching that goal.
While a third stint with his hometown Cavaliers has frequently been mentioned as a logical landing spot, The Athletic story points out that the only realistic way for that to happen is a buyout prior to training camp and the Lakers, who have championship aspirations, have no incentive to do so.
Cleveland can’t even attempt to trade for James at the moment because it is over the second apron and cannot aggregate salaries. Second apron restrictions would also prohibit the Cavs from signing him during the regular season if he’s bought out.
In order to get under the second apron, the Cavs would have to find ways to shed salary. They would then need to give up rotation players to match James’ salary in a trade.
The Warriors and Knicks have also been speculated as teams that might go all-in for a player nearing retirement in order to win next year’s championship. However, trading away James for a high-salary player such as Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns, both of whom are signed for at least the next two seasons, would wreck the Lakers’ plans to have salary cap flexibility next summer.
The Mavericks, who have also been thrown into the rumor mill regarding James, does not have interest in gutting its roster to match his salary in a trade, The Athletic duo adds. It’s also noteworthy that James has a full no-trade clause in his contract, so the Lakers can’t deal him unless he signs off on the transaction.