You Asked For An Insane Fake LeBron Trade, You've Got An Insane Fake LeBron Trade!
With the Larry O'Brien Trophy chilling in OKC and the cool part of NBA free agency in our rearview, all we can do is concoct silly mock blockbusters. And who better to start with than The King?
SHOW OF HANDS: Did you think LeBron James would play professional basketball until he turned 96?
Yeah, I did too. And after having watched the King since his 1969 NBA debut, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he finished the 2033 season averaging a triple-double.
But it’s looking more and more like Akron's finest will shut it down after the 2025-26 campaign, news that raises at least three questions:
Professionally and personally, does it behoove James to finish his career in Lakers purple and gold?
Will Bron’s partnership with Luka Doncic evolve into a Jordan and Pippen kind of deal, or is this (theoretically) generational pairing a mismatch?
Will LBJ have a better shot at a ring outside of Cali?
For this thought exercise, let’s go with choice three.
ON FEBRUARY 1, 2025, this happened:
My knee-jerk reaction was, “Dumbest. Trade. Ever.”
I suspect I wasn’t the only one who felt that shipping Luka out of Texas—and getting injury-in-waiting Anthony Davis in return—was an absurd move for the Mavs. Absurd, I tells ya.
The Luka-fied Lakers had a nice run to finish the year—as per StatMuse, they played at a 15-8 clip when James and Doncic were in the starting lineup together—but they weren’t anywhere strong enough to make a legitimate postseason run.
That being the case, let’s say we stipulate the LeBron/Luka duo won’t gel quickly enough to nab a Larry O'Brien here in LeBron’s (potential) career denouement. That being the case, maybe we should give the Chosen One a chance to finish out his career on top.
So let’s send him to Dallas.
Dallas Mavericks Receive
LeBron James
Bronny James
Los Angeles Lakers’ 2026 second-round draft pick (from TOR)
Los Angeles Lakers Receive
Anthony Davis
Jaden Hardy
Dallas’ 2029 first-round draft pick (from LAL)
Financially speaking, a third team would need to get in on the action to drag this one across the finish line, but this is a start.
Why It Works For Dallas
An Anthony Davis/Cooper Flagg combo platter doesn’t get me super-excited, primarily because...
Entering his age-32 season, Davis is on the tail-end of his career.
The University of Kentucky product has never played a complete 82-game slate, topping 74 starts in just three of his 13 years in the Association.
If you’re the Mavs, do you want to take a chance on wasting Flagg’s rookie season with an injured Davis and a potentially hobbled Kyrie Irving? Of course you don’t.
Playing next to James, Flagg would both thrive and get an invaluable education, giving him the opportunity to crush it this season and beyond.
And it’s not like the Davis-less Mavs would be hurting in the paint; a Flagg/Derrick Lively/Daniel Gafford frontcourt would be a veritable defensive fortress.
Can a starting five of Irving, James, Flagg, Lively, and Gafford hang with the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder? Maybe, maybe not, but it would sure be fun to find out.
Why It Works For Los Angeles
Just give the keys to Luka already.
Remember, the last season in which Doncic was fully healthy—2023-24—the Slovenian beast dragged a meh Mavericks team to the NBA Finals, and there’s no reason to think that playing alongside Davis and Austin Reaves—without LeBron inhibiting his Luka-ness—he couldn’t do it again.
Granted, health and beer consumption will play a major role in Doncic's campaign, but if he can avoid injury and keep away from the Fulton Lonely Blonde Ale, this Lakers team can compete today, and, come 2026-27, make further inroads in the West.
Landing that first-rounder is key—the Lakers currently don’t have firsts in 2027 or 2029—and the trade would give them the opportunity to build around the 26-year-old Doncic moving forward.
Yes, a Davis return to La La Land would be, in a word, weird, and it’s far from a guarantee that this deal could get either of these franchises past an OKC team fielding a scary-ass starting lineup that averages 25.8 years of age.
But it’d sure make the Western Conference an interesting place to be for the next 12 months.