Lakers Insider Reports LeBron James Trade Condition For Nico Harrison, Mavericks

The LA Lakers signaled midway through the 2024-25 NBA season that they would rather go for a long-term vision. Trading Anthony Davis away for Luka Doncic and stripping the team of its only good NBA big could not have pleased LeBron James (if he was unaware). The Lakers had shown a good bit of life as they rallied under new head coach JJ Redick. But all of this good work went to nought after the trade.

The Lakers tried their valiant best to reset around their new roster. Doncic himself did a lot of adjusting as the team moved to a more heliocentric offense around him. The team even went on an 11-3 run after his debut with the Lakers. But it all came unraveling a month before the playoffs as LeBron James went down injured. The King returned to action after some rest, but he reinjured his knee during the first round.

The Lakers, tipped to beat the sixth seeded Wolves, were dumped out of the playoffs with a 4-1 series loss. Luka Doncic averaged 30 points, James averaged 25 and Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent all had contributions. But their lack of paint defense came back to haunt them. The Lakers may have realized their need to pivot, which is why they’ve brought in Deandre Ayton at center.

But it seems that this move isn’t enough for James to stop looking for a way out from the team. Many teams were enquired on whether they would take on his $52.6 million salary for the next year. The Lakers didn’t get an affirmative answer to their probe. Teams like the Dallas Mavericks will only take him on after he’s bought out. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, who is their Lakers insider, provided some insight on this today:

Dallas—I’m told—they would only be interested in LeBron in a buyout situation…I don’t necessarily think that he’ll go out East because his son’s gonna be in – first of all, let’s bring this up because I don’t think it’s getting enough attention – his son’s on the Lakers. So he’s just gonna go get a trade away from his son?