Jason Burgos
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst offered up a realistic win-win trade that would see the Los Angeles Lakers send LeBron James back to the Cleveland Cavaliers to retire with the team he started his career with.
With the NBA Draft and the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade in the rearview, one of the biggest stories in the weeks ahead will be on James’ future. It is unclear if the 41-year-old will even return for a 24th season. If he does, another go-around with the Lakers seems like the most logical option. But there are hurdles.
Most reports since the Lakers’ season ended is if the 22-time All-Star takes any sort of pay cut from the $52.6 million he made last season, he wants LA to give him a good reason to do so. It means that a return to the Lakers is far from a lock. If he does go elsewhere, most NBA experts believe either the Cavaliers or the Golden State Warriors would be the destination.
LA won’t work with the Warriors in a potential sign-and-trade. However, they would with Cleveland, because they have a player the Lakers would “kill” to have, according to Windhorst.
Could the LA Lakers trade LeBron James for Jarrett Allen?
“If the Cavs were interested, the Lakers would sit up at attention right now, and they would sign-and-trade LeBron for Jarrett Allen,” the NBA insider told ESPN Cleveland 850 AM. ” I think if the Cavs were willing to do that, they could have LeBron.
“Obviously, LeBron would have to want to sign with the Cavs. But if your pathway to pay LeBron the money is to trade Jarrett Allen for him, the Lakers would kill for Jarrett Allen. They would do that deal in 17 tenths of a second.”
Allen is exactly the type of center the Lakers could use, and top star Luka Doncic has wanted since he arrived in Lala Land last year. Furthermore, in an era of small ball, the Cavaliers could easily move Evan Mobley to the five spot and place James at the four in a starting five with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.
To make a trade work for the money James would want, Dennis Schroder could be thrown in. Both teams would be fine with that. Pluss, of the veteran starters, Allen is the one the Cavs would be most open to moving. And to do it to have James retire in Cleveland and make one last run at a title would be one heck of a story.
