4 Lakers that should be untouchable at the trade deadline
1. LeBron James
The Lakers are a glaringly worse team when LeBron is off the floor, and their record is terrible in games that he misses due to injury. Even at age 37 in his 19th season, it would make no sense to trade him away and take him off this roster because they are one of the worst teams in the West without him.
With all the Lakers’ struggles this season, and his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers having their best season since he left them in 2018, ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins speculated on his twitter that James could force his way back to Cleveland in some sort of trade. Yet like most things he says that seems to be more like fantasy than reality. It would make little sense for Cleveland to give up any young assets to try and relive their past glory days when their future looks so bright.
More recent rumors have also suggested that LeBron would be willing to leave Los Angeles if that meant he was going to get to play his son LeBron James Jr. This does not really affect this year’s trade deadline because Bronny is not draft-eligible until 2024, but it does speak to LeBron’s willingness to have another chapter in his career beyond the purple and gold.
The Lakers would be foolish to willingly send him out of town via trade before he retires. The only way the Lakers should let LeBron leave the franchise is through free agency, which he could do in the summer of 2023.
LeBron is the only player over 30 to make this list, because age is just not a factor for him like it is for most athletes his age. This season he has proven to be the Tom Brady of the NBA by somehow having one of the best scoring stretches in the 19th year of his career.
Any contender would be chomping at the bit to add a player like James at the deadline. The Lakers will unlikely be fielding any trade calls about him because he still holds the key to any possibility of them competing in the playoffs and next season.
This team will still only go as far as LeBron will take them so trading him away without him forcing his way out makes no sense.
It makes sense to include LBJ as the king of the untradeable list because he would be in the MVP conversation if the Lakers were playing better as a team. It was apparent to put him and Davis as 1A and 1B at the top of this list because a trade including either of them is so unlikely.