The history-making longevity of L.A. Lakers superstar LeBron James has been one of the storylines of the 2023-24 NBA campaign. In his 21st year, James is still in the vicinity of his peak years as a player, averaging 24.8 points, 7.8 assists and 7.2 rebounds per game, while the only other players to have played that long (Vince Carter, Robert Parish, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett and Kevin Willis) were shadows of their former selves by the same stage.
On the court, James is still having an impact unlike anyone else before him. And it turns out that this may be the case off the court, too.
Last week, ESPN reported that at the trade deadline, the Golden State Warriors threw a Hail Mary attempt and reached out to the ownership of James’s team, the Los Angeles Lakers, about possibly trading for him. And while it clearly did not work – the Lakers, simply, had no reason to engage in any such discussion – the existence of the report speaks to the continued importance of LeBron in the transaction market.
Paying historically high levels of salary for what still might not be a playoff team, the Warriors sought some sort of rejuvenation. The Chris Paul trade in the offseason had not kept the title window open as intended, and, with the trio of Stephen Curry/Klay Thompson/Draymond Green in the final quarter of their careers, they needed to go big if they were going to make a deal at all.
A move for James, though, would have been bigger even than most optimists would have envisaged. The fact that they felt it was a phone call they were both willing and able to make speaks to a perception, real or not, that James might have been available.
The Lakers, of course, have taken the PR steps necessary in light of the report to calm the waters. So too has James’s agent, Rich Paul, who has reiterated that LeBron remains completely committed to the Lakers. Even though subsequent reports reveal it was not just the Warriors who saw fit to ask – supposedly, the Philadelphia 76ers also posed the question, opening themselves up to the inevitable counter-demand of Joel Embiid – the Lakers want to quash any such conversation. For every possible reason.
Maybe Paul is telling the truth. Maybe James really does have no plans to leave. But regardless of what James personally feels, executives around the league feel he might be available once again. And as has been the case before, if there is a chance that James could be on the move, the market is tailored accordingly.
This market gravity is manifest in both big and small ways. From the inclusion of his high school teammates Dru Joyce and Romeo Travis on the 2003 Cleveland Cavaliers summer league roster, all the way through to overstocking the roster in his first season in Los Angeles with his choice of veterans, James’s incumbent teams have always sought to use at least some of their exhaustible roster spots on players he wants. It is a practice afforded to the game’s very best, and James is no exception.
In a similar fashion, the Miami Heat drafted Shabazz Napier in the first round of the 2014 NBA draft a few weeks after LeBron had openly lauded him on Twitter, in what was assumed to be a move designed in large part to please him. It was not enough – James, famously, returned to the Cavaliers that summer – but the same idea may gain more traction this summer as LeBron’s son, Bronny, becomes draft-eligible. With LeBron having openly stated his intention to play alongside his son going back several years, the Lakers will consider the idea.
That said, the Bronny Leverage is not something only available to the Lakers. And if the rumor is to be believed, LeBron will be willing to take a pay cut to do it.
More importantly, and more immediately, James will once again be the priority in the transaction market. Be it via trade or free agency, both of which are possible considering his salary situation (with a $51,415,938 player option for 2024-25), he is the piece by which the rest of the market is measured, and the one whose situation will put everything else into stasis until it is resolved. In a not-particularly-strong free agency class with less teams having cap space than we have been used to over the last eight seasons, his name stands out, particularly if the trade avenue is legitimate.
Teams asking about LeBron is, of course, not the same thing as him asking to leave. That said, more than any other of the game’s all-time greats, James has been willing to move house. Over the past 20 years, he has galvanized a new era of player power, one in which the leverage of his departure becomes more than a veiled threat. And even after those 20 years, he still is enough of a needle-mover on the court to back it up.
LeBron has surprised us at least twice before with his decisions. Having laid the foundations for it in the press, and the recent trade rumors suggesting there may be a fire under all that smoke, would a third one really be that surprising?
