LeBron James Trade to Mavs Reportedly Has 'Some Buzz' in NBA amid Lakers Rumors

In what would be an incredible piece of irony, the Dallas Mavericks have been linked to a possible trade for Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

"I will say that there has been some LeBron-and-Dallas buzz going on a couple years now," Lakers insider Jovan Buha reported (at the 9:40 mark). "Remember in the summer of 2023, right after Dallas had traded for Kyrie, there was that rumor out there that LeBron was gonna go to Dallas on a vet minimum contract and team up with Draymond, and it was gonna be Luka, Kyrie, LeBron and Draymond.

"That, of course, did not happen. But there has been some buzz I will say in the general NBA ether over the last week or two with LeBron and Dallas."

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Sunday that James is picking up his $52.6 million player option for 2025-26. More crucially, though, he said LeBron and agent Rich Paul "will be closely monitoring the Lakers' moves and whether the team is positioning itself this offseason to field a title-contending roster."

The subtext seems to be that the 21-time All-Star could request a trade if he's not satisfied with what Los Angeles general manager Rob Pelinka has done with the team this summer.

In theory, the Mavs make sense as a landing spot. James would reunite with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, two stars with whom he has played before. Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN also wrote in January 2020 that Dallas head coach Jason Kidd, then a Lakers assistant, was somebody who "James regards as the only person alive who sees the game of basketball with his level of clarity."

But LeBron's salary is a massive hurdle for the Mavericks and any contender who might want to acquire the four-time MVP.

Getting the math to work either means dealing away a big star or combining multiple solid role players. In either case, the cost almost defeats the purpose of doing the move in the first place.

Further complicating matters, James has a no-trade clause.

With Dallas specifically, a straight-up trade with the Lakers isn't impossible, but it would mean paring back the roster in a big way. Davis and Irving are the only Mavericks players making more than $20 million next season, so a LeBron trade would necessitate giving up some combination of Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford, Max Christie, PJ Washington, Naji Marshall, Jaden Hardy or Dwight Powell.

Four or five years ago, a squad built around a Big Three of James, Davis and Irving might be good enough to compete for a championship. Now, all three are on the wrong end of the aging curve, and Irving is recovering from a torn ACL.

If James is serious about exploring all of his options, then he should've opted out of his Lakers contract. By committing to the team for one more year, he has really boxed himself in.