LeBron James is on another power trip.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Los Angeles Lakers have had discussions with the Detroit Pistons about possibly trading for Bojan Bogdanovic, and they’ve also spoken with the New York Knicks about Cam Reddish and Evan Fournier. The Lakers have brought up names such as Kyrie Irving, DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Kuzma, Dough McDermott, Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, The Athletic reported.
But the Lakers also have big fish on their target list, having interest in Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal if any of the players get placed on the trade market, according to the outlet.
December 15 marked the unofficial start of trade season.
Here is a trade FAQ on the Lakers for the upcoming weeks, including intel on who’s available, teams and players they’re interested in, and a more realistic timeline for a trade: https://t.co/6ZJTPTZ5YT
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) December 16, 2022
Of course LeBron James is likely involved in trying to trade for another superstar, because you know he’s partly calling the shots. Though it’s not like how it was when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers, I know Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was just recently hesitant to give up Russell Westbrook in a trade.
Report: Jeanie Buss was ‘reluctant’ to give up Russell Westbrook for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner when they were close to a deal https://t.co/a2AeEcKoDG
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) December 15, 2022
By the way, I just want to point out she is totally the hottest owner in the NBA.
Anyways, I’ve got a lot of experience covering LeBron James from my days doing Miami sports radio. I know how he operated with the Miami Heat, and I know the massive power that he obtained when he went to Cleveland the second time. Remember how the Cavaliers formed their own big three of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love?
LeBron, himself, was reportedly personally responsible for getting Love there, as well all of the other surrounding talent that they put in that big three. He completely called the shots in Cleveland, that was a part of the deal between him and owner Dan Gilbert when he came back to the Cavaliers. Gilbert had no choice, because we all remember how things went down when LeBron left to go to Miami. Do we all remember the infamous letter where Gilbert said that Cleveland would win a championship before the “self-titled former ‘king'”?
Yeah, that didn’t work out so well, but he did get LeBron back, and did so by giving him basically all of the power. Unfortunately for LeBron, he doesn’t have anywhere near as much power in Los Angeles.
That’s still Jeanie Buss’ team.
On one end, I can’t stand LeBron. I’m always rooting for him to fail and love to see the Los Angeles Lakers lose because of him — and this is coming from somebody who is a fan of the Lakers brand. But I just can’t stand LeBron, he’s an easy guy to hate. I admit I’m a “hater” of him and the current Lakers — and I don’t hate on much either. That’s just how unlikable LeBron is, and personally, I don’t know anybody who likes the guy. Let’s just be straight up, he’s a corny prick. (RELATED: ‘Darkest Times Of My Life’: 22-Year-Old NBA Player Tyrell Terry Announces Retirement)
On the other end, I admire the power and wealth that LeBron has built for himself, and if I was in his position, I’d be trying to make big trades happen as well in order to win championships. I’m not going to hate on the man for that, I wish I had as much power and wealth as him. I could just do without the whole corny prick stuff.
I don’t know if the Lakers will get a big fish like Durant or Lillard, but what I do know is, if one team can pull off a super trade like that, it’s a team with LeBron James in it. And I can’t help but to respect the power move if he does pull it off.