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Nightmare LeBron James trade the Lakers shouldn't even consider

The Golden State Warriors have relentlessly swirled around LeBron James as a trade target, dreaming of the perfect union with fellow old-head Stephen Curry. The pathway to making that deal is just not there, and it especially should not involve Jonathan Kuminga.

Jake Fischer dropped a fresh roundup of NBA rumors for late August. Links between James and the Warriors served a pivotal point of the intel collected.

"Golden State will undoubtedly be mentioned as a potential James suitor," Fischer wrote. "I'm told that the Warriors have called the Lakers on multiple occasions over the past 18 months to see whether there is any trade pathway to pairing James with Stephen Curry."

Fischer tried to explore avenues to find Kuminga a new home if he were to give in and decide to agree to a new deal, allowing for a potential sign-and-trade scenario. However, 'a tradeable salary north of $20 million' for the young forward would present a considerable challenge for the Warriors matching up for James' contract figure of $52.6 million.

Jonathan Kuminga's disastrous fit in Los Angeles not worth exploring

First and foremost, there should be no rush to get rid of LeBron unless a truly worthwhile scenario presents itself. Swapping out James for Kuminga and filler is just not it.

With the goal in Los Angeles being to build around Luka Doncic, the free-agent forward is not the type of player needed as support for the superstar point guard. The offensive fit would be abysmal between Doncic and Kuminga.

The young forward can be an absolute ball stopper on offense, with tunnel vision for his own buckets and his own buckets alone. Watching a Warriors game will allow one to find plenty of instances when Kuminga disrupts the flow of Golden State's attack.

If you ever wonder why Kuminga usually doesn't close the games or play more, this is why.

3 minutes left, down 3, Curry calls the play; Kuminga gets the ball and goes for a post-up/score instead of an easy read and kick-out to wide-open Curry. Turnover. pic.twitter.com/BrscQrhevt

— Pips NBA (@PipsNBA) March 25, 2024

One can choose to contribute as much blame as they would like to Steve Kerr for his role in the shortcomings of the former lottery pick. An inconsistent role has definitely not helped his development.

Regardless of that, Kuminga fails to make easy reads offensively and would need an environment that allowed him room for error. The Lakers are not the place to do that.

Doncic has been abundantly clear about his desire to win in the present. Allowing Kuminga to go through the necessary growing pains a player like him needs is not something the Lakers can provide at this time.

If the Lakers were really hellbent on trading away James, there is a deal out there somewhere. This particular move with the Warriors is not it.

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