If the Cleveland Cavaliers plan to bring LeBron James home over the next year, it’s going to take Darius Garland’s $197 million contract to make a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers happen.
That’s what one NBA insider says, anyway.
Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh predicts that a multi-team deal, a three or four-team proposal, is the likeliest path for “King James” to return to his homestate. It’d take him waiving his no-trade clause, but given the state of his relationship with Luka Doncic, that might not be asking much.
“LeBron waives his no-trade clause and OK’s a trade to the Cavs He’s coming home — again. It won’t be easy, but if the Cavs get off to a slow start, Darius Garland’s contract could be large enough to grease the wheels in a three- or four-team trade,” Haberstroh wrote.
Yahoo Sports’ Ben Rohrbach also predicted James leaving Los Angeles by the end of the season, though he didn’t give a specific landing spot.
“LeBron James will not be on the Lakers at the end of the season. It made sense for the Lakers to trade James from the moment they traded for Dončić. Paying a 40-year-old max money is a hindrance to building a contender around a 26-year-old perennial MVP candidate. It just is. Who knows how the Lakers find a partner to match salaries for James, but they would be wise to acquire whatever they can for one of the game's all-time greats before he could leave them in 2026 free agency,” Rorhbach wrote.
Switching out Garland for James would team the latter up with Lonzo Ball for the second time in his career. More importantly, it’d give the Cavs a facilitator who can defend all five positions. That’d open up room in Kenny Atkinson’s lineup for more shooting, which has been his M.O. since his days coaching the Brooklyn Nets.
It’d also be one of the only ways to have James’s career end as anything but a villain.
We’ll see if that’s what James prioritizes at the end of his career.