Golden State and Los Angeles are both firmly in the 2024-2025 NBA Playoff picture a little less than 25 games into the season, but the Lakers’ recent struggles have fans wondering about a potentially big splash before the trade deadline.
The Lakers have plenty of talent that hasn’t quite meshed together yet, as evidenced by Los Angeles’ 134-132 overtime loss to Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
On the same day, longtime ESPN personality Michael Wilbon floated out the idea of a potential Golden State Warriors trade for the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, LeBron James, currently a member of the Lakers.
Wilbon’s reasoning was that the Warriors’ stars Draymond Green and Stephen Curry could potentially have a short window for winning another NBA title and James is in the same boat, wanting to win as soon as possible before the clock is up.
Following Wilbon’s mentioning, ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst admitted that there have been conversations about a possible change of scenery for James around the league.
“I’m very interested in all of this…I’d be lying if I said that there (hasn’t) been some conversations in the league with LeBron at some point this year, like…revisit that. Because you remember at the trade deadline last year, the Warriors called,” Windhorst said.
Windhorst added that James has reiterated multiple times that he wants to stay with the Lakers while adding that the former St. Vincent St. Mary’s (OH) high school star’s team has financial obstacles relating toward possibly dealing James.
The Warriors, for their part, also have financial obstacles to a potential deal, Windhorst added, as he continued to debate the possibility of a James trade with Wilbon and Kendrick ‘Big Perk’ Perkins. Brian Windhorst pours some cold water on the idea, detailing how tough that trade would be.