NBA Insider Suspects Lakers May Trade LeBron James

"Usually when things like this start to trickle out, something is about to go down." Haynes said, via SiriusXM NBA Radio.

The most interesting part of this situation brewing in Los Angeles is that James has one of the few no-trade clauses in the NBA. The superstar forward has all the power in this situation with the Lakers, as he can decline any trade that he doesn't approve of, making any deal incredibly difficult to pull off.

However, anything can happen in the league today, as it now operates in the post-Luka Doncic trade era. Obviously, it's a stretch to believe that lightning can strike twice for the storied franchise in consecutive seasons, in terms of pulling off a jaw-dropping deal and getting considerable value in return, but if the Lakers want to move James and he wants out, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that something gets done over the next two weeks.

One interesting scenario could be a trade with the Golden State Warriors after they learned that star forward Jimmy Butler would miss the rest of the season due to a torn ACL. Jonathan Kuminga recently asked the Warriors to trade him, and the season is lost for Golden State unless the team makes a bold move, such as going after James to play alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green for at least the rest of the 2025-26 campaign.

Other notable options could be sending James back to the Cleveland Cavaliers for his final stretch or potentially moving him to the New York Knicks, who might be considering moving on from Karl-Anthony Towns ahead of February's deadline.

Things get very complicated with the contracts involved in any deal, along with James' no-trade clause, but it'll be interesting to see if there's any validity to Haynes' suspension, which suggests that a big move could be coming for the Lakers.