Column: The Lakers must trade LeBron James. It sounds crazy, but itâs the best path forward.
LeBron James is a giant.
Heâs not bigger than the Lakers.
James will retire as the greatest player in NBA history.
Heâs not greater than the Lakers.
James has spent four years in Los Angeles. The Lakers have been here for 62. James has won one championship in Los Angeles. The Lakers have won a dozen.
These are all inordinately obvious statements that should not require recitation, but some people around town have gotten in their heads that the Lakers need to keep submitting to the Kingâs commands for the franchise to survive.
Honestly? At this point in his career, there really is only one way LeBron James can help the Lakers win a championship.
They must trade him.
Itâs their best chance at getting the fastest start on their inevitable rebuild. Itâs their last chance to fix the Lakers brand before it sinks into what could be a decade of mediocrity.
Certainly, the mere act of saying it â trade LeBron James! â sounds crazy. It seems absurd. It feels like a hot take. But the cold truth is, the Lakers are not about one player, theyâve never been about one player, theyâve endured and preserved and triumphed through sudden retirements and stunning trades and awful injuries.
Jerry West has come, and gone, and theyâve survived. Magic Johnson has come, and gone, and theyâve figured it out. Shaquille OâNeal has come, and gone, and theyâve won three titles since.
Before placing James on a lofty pedestal above the townâs loftiest sports franchise, understand he needs the Lakers more than the Lakers need him.
And right now, for their own survival, the Lakers pretty much need him to leave.
Start with the fact agreed upon by anyone who has watched this mess of a basketball team. As constituted, theyâre not going to win a title before Jamesâ contract expires after next season. Period. End of debate.
They canât add enough pieces to fix the misfit combination of a 37-year-old James, a broken Anthony Davis and a lost Russell Westbrook. They donât have enough draft assets or financial flexibility to undo the roster nightmare created by James himself, who has been a terrific player and a terrible general manager.
The Lakers are in ninth place in the Western Conference and have work to do to avoid the NBAâs play-in tournament.
Even if James continues his current incredible individual play, keeping those three players together ensures another meager season, James gets another year older, and misses even more games with injuries, and then what? When he is a free agent in the summer of 2023, do you really want to give James a Kobe Bryant retirement contract? And put the Lakersâ future on hold for another five years? So, you let him walk and get nothing and then where are you?
Now for the second fact. Of the Lakersâ three best players, Jamesâ trade value offers greatest rewards for the lowest risk. Nobody wants Westbrook and that onerous $47 million final season on his contract, so forget that. There would be interest in Davis, but his fragility greatly lowers his attractiveness.
James is one of the few players in the NBA who could instantly turn a championship contender â which the Lakers are decidedly not â into champions. Heâs not built for the long haul, but as a one-year rental, even at his age, he could command a bounty that could set up the Lakers to become something they havenât been in years.
A young team full of promise. An exciting team filled with growth. The sort of team that Lakers fans would more easily embrace than this current band of confused attackers and slow defenders.
Absolutely, there are questions. Like, even with all the Lakersâ problems, how can any team possibly survive the departure of arguably the greatest player ever immediately after one of his greatest seasons ever?
Consider, James left the Miami Heat in 2014 and, while they wandered in the desert for five years, they were in the NBA Finals against the Lakers in 2020 and are on top of the Eastern Conference today.
Also, James left the Cleveland Cavaliers for a second time in 2018 and they only struggled for three years before rising to the No. 4 slot in the Eastern Conference this year.
A trade of James might initially feel like an ending but, really, itâs only a beginning.
Another concern might be, if James doesnât want to be traded â and thereâs been no indication he wants to leave Los Angeles â how would his unwelcomed departure effect the clubâs relationship with all the great players repped by Jamesâ Klutch Sports?
There will indeed be lots of rumbling from Rich Paulâs group, but in the end, while James would be leaving, Hollywood isnât going anywhere. The entertainment capital is still the entertainment capital. Players are still going to want to come here. The Lakers will still be the Lakers.
A third concern might be that Lakers fans would be heartbroken at the loss of James. Except, really, heâs never quite found his way into their hearts.
A 1997-1998 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Emerald Kobe Bryant card sold for $2 million privately through PWCC Marketplace last week.
He did what he came here to do, but their 2020 championship run was short and played in a bubble and few really shared the experience. Heâs yet to win a title with Lakers fans in the stands, and he probably wonât win one, and so heâs viewed more as an entertainer than a family member. Heâs no Magic, no Kobe, no Shaq.
Over the weekend at the All-Star game, James tried to assert his franchise value by basically calling out the beleaguered Lakers basketball vice president Rob Pelinka. Out of nowhere, in a pregame news conference, James praised Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti. Then, privately, he apparently passed the word to several outlets that he was unhappy that Pelinka publicly said James agreed with the teamâs trade deadline inactivity, which he didnât. He also told The Athletic he wouldnât close the door on a return to Cleveland.
It was clear that, in his trademark side-door way, James was setting up a showdown with Pelinka and perhaps forcing the Lakers to choose between the two.
Except, as much as Pelinka seems consistently overmatched in his job, many of his recent moves are ones recommended by James. This is not about Pelinkaâs future, which was constantly in question long before this weekend. This is about the Lakersâ future, and, in that battle for value, LeBron James loses.
For that future to be the foundation of a new championship era, the Lakers must go on without him.
Watch L.A. Times Today at 7 p.m. on Spectrum News 1 on Channel 1 or live stream on the Spectrum News App. Palos Verdes Peninsula and Orange County viewers can watch on Cox Systems on channel 99.
All things Lakers, all the time.
Get all the Lakers news you need in Dan Woike's weekly newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
