Pressure's on, Lakers! Breaking down the franchise's options (including trading LeBron James)

Rich Paul fired the first shot of the Lakers’ offseason on Sunday. “We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career,” the Klutch Sports CEO said in a story announcing that LeBron James picked up his $52.6 million player option on Sunday. “He wants to make every season he has left count.”

This is the Klutch playbook: Apply pressure. And if the Lakers don’t go all-in? LeBron walks. He did it to Miami. He did it to Cleveland twice. After seven years, he could do it again in Los Angeles.

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But Paul’s right. LeBron is still a top-10 player. Top 15 at worst. Luka Dončić turns 27 next season and looks fit this summer. Maybe this year he’ll keep the pounds off. He’s been to an NBA Finals, two West finals, and this could be his MVP season. By going public, Paul wasn’t just speaking for LeBron — he did Luka a favor by putting pressure on Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka.

Even though Luka is still young, the front office should be urgent. Windows close fast. Primes don’t always last. And the Lakers haven’t really gone all-in once since the 2019-20 season, losing key free agents over the years and bypassing chances to turn future draft picks into players who can help now. Even when Luka signs his max contract extension this summer, who knows if his patience would last as long as LeBron’s has. If those guys are in your building, why would you enter another run with Jaxson Hayes as your starting center?

The offseason is off to a rough start though. League execs think Dorian Finney-Smith will leave, likely to Houston for more money and years. The good news: that frees up the Lakers to use their $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The bad news: doing so hard caps them at the first apron ($195.9 million), and this free agent class is weak.

Lakers trade targets?

The free agent class got a jolt when Portland bought out Deandre Ayton, who shares an agent with Luka. The Lakers are expected to show interest. But the Trail Blazers waived Ayton for the same reason Phoenix wanted to trade him away: He’s flaky. Why would that change in Los Angeles? Veteran options at center include Brook Lopez or Clint Capela. But the Lakers don’t need to use the $14.1 million on just one player; they could split the MLE to chase multiple guys. Say, $8 million for Lopez, and then $6.1 million for a non-big such as Bruce Brown or Larry Nance Jr.

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Ultimately, the biggest difference-makers would come via trade though. Let’s take a look at LA’s assets and who they could target:

Austin Reaves: The Lakers need to stop treating Reaves like an untouchable cornerstone. He’s a good scorer, but his skill set is fairly redundant on a roster with LeBron and Luka. Even with just Luka, neither of them are defensive stoppers. Reaves can also become an unrestricted free agent in 2026, so his big money deal is approaching.

Dalton Knecht: He could also have value entering his second season.

Expiring contracts: Gabe Vincent ($11.5 million), Maxi Kleber ($11 million), and Jordan Goodwin ($2.4 million) are on expiring deals and are totally expendable. If DFS leaves, it becomes harder to part with Rui Hachimura ($18.3 million), but he’s not necessarily a keeper.

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Draft picks: The Lakers can also trade one first-round pick in 2031 or 2032, and swap up to four firsts in 2026, 2028, 2030, and 2031 or 2032. They only have their second-round pick in 2032.

With their assets, the Lakers need more athletic scorers and defensive tone-setters who could be the modern versions of Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Some realistic trade target options include:

Bigs: Walker Kessler, Isaiah Stewart, Yves Missi

Forwards: Herb Jones, Miles Bridges, Jerami Grant

Guards: Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Devin Carter

If the Lakers sign a center in free agency, it wouldn’t necessarily preclude them from targeting another one. Having multiple bigs would be vital in having lineup versatility, giving head coach JJ Redick the ability to play with just one or two bigs depending on the situation. It’s a necessity in the modern NBA. Unless of course the Lakers don’t view LeBron as part of that picture.

Trade LeBron?

Maybe LeBron is the timeline conflict. Luka doesn’t need mentorship. He doesn’t need to share touches. What he needs is a flexible roster with defenders, decision-makers, and shooters. That’s hard to build when LeBron is the highest-paid player and still great enough to receive a central role. If the Lakers believe LeBron muddies Luka’s path, a clean break starts to make sense.

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If LeBron does decide it’s in his best interest to move on, the Lakers could extract value from a team. He has a no-trade clause, so he can shrink the market. But unless a buyout is coming, any deal for him still requires salary to come back, which means the Lakers would get something useful in return.

Well, maybe. Let’s take a look at five teams that could theoretically want LeBron and the type of salaries they’d have to give up to acquire him:

Cleveland Cavaliers: Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Max Strus

A deal between the Cavaliers and Lakers would be extremely difficult since Cleveland is a second apron team, meaning the front office can’t aggregate salaries without moving under the second apron. A third and maybe a fourth team would have to get involved.

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Also, despite Cleveland’s clear holes, are we sure giving up Garland and Allen, both in their mid-Nikola Jokić20s, for old LeBron is in their best interests? Or should the Cavs look for changes elsewhere?

New York Knicks: OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Miles McBride

There are tons of other combinations that work too. The Knicks could also give up Karl-Anthony Towns instead, which would be the cleanest possible trade. Instead of OG, Mikal Bridges and smaller salaries could be sent out.

But the Knicks are hoping for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Does it really make sense to blow their salaries and assets on a 40-year-old LeBron?

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Dallas Mavericks: Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, Cody Martin, Jaden Hardy

A ton of combos would work including ones with Klay Thompson. But it’d be easy to see the appeal for LeBron to team up again with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. Then again, what if half the rotation is gone? With Irving out until at least midway through the season, there’s a lot of risk for both him and for Dallas.

Denver Nuggets: Michael Porter Jr., Zeke Nnaji, Dario Saric, Julian Strawther

Nikola Jokić and LeBron teaming up could lead to some pretty beautiful basketball. And LeBron is a clear upgrade for the Nuggets without sacrificing any other core pieces. Between MPJ, Nnaji, and Saric, they’d actually be giving up three of their worst contracts. This one would actually make some sense if LeBron wanted to play out possibly the final season of his career in Denver.

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Golden State Warriors: Jimmy Butler

A trade doesn’t get any easier than this one. These salaries match perfectly. And James would be a major upgrade over Butler, since he brings some of the same qualities as a defender but is a far superior scorer.

Butler is a poor fit with Luka, though, so maybe the Lakers would want to flip him elsewhere. Who might want him? Phoenix. So a mega-trade involving the Rockets and Suns could always make reasonable sense with LeBron and Bronny to Golden State, Butler to Phoenix, Kevin Durant to Houston, and Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks to Los Angeles.

Maybe these trades are a silly exercise. After Paul made his statement on Sunday, all the talk around the NBA has been that LeBron is angling for a buyout from Los Angeles. This is because most teams wouldn’t want to gut their rosters for a 40-year-old possibly entering the final season of his career. If it did come to that, the Lakers could obviously just say: Why’d you opt in if you wanted to leave? Why wouldn’t you have just taken a discount if you wanted the roster to improve? Or they could just say: Sure, thanks for the memories, you’re free to go. And if that were to happen, a long list of teams would be lined up hoping to sign him.

Maybe LeBron stays, and the Lakers run it back with a patched-up bench. But Rich Paul didn’t go on the record just to chit-chat. He set the tone. And whether LeBron stays or goes, the Lakers need to stop pretending this roster makes sense. They built a brand chasing stars. Now they’ve got two, and no clue what to do with them.