Lakers would be foolish to trade LeBron James or Anthony Davis

This season’s Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, have been the biggest disappointment in NBA history. No other Lakers team with championship expectations have had a losing record this deep into the season.

Everyone wants to play armchair quarterback when analyzing the purple and gold. The “solutions” in the media are loudly proclaimed as if they are gospel. Many media pundits are now calling for the Lakers to trade LeBron James and Anthony Davis this offseason.

This is a horrible idea.

The Lakers should NOT trade LeBron James and Anthony Davis this offseason

Allow me to explain why it is being reported that the Lakers are considering trading LeBron James and Anthony Davis this offseason.

The organization and Klutch Sports (both LeBron and AD are Klutch clients) are clearly not on the same page right now. We all know this is true because both entities are notorious for leaking specific information to the media.

Here is a timeline of what has happened over the last few weeks alone.

• On February 10th, the Lakers refused to trade Russell Westbrook and their 2027 first-round pick for John Wall (another Klutch client) at the trade deadline
• On February 21st, LeBron said he was open to returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers
• On February 22nd, NBA reporter Marc Stein said Cleveland did not necessarily want to bring LeBron back
• On February 24th, LA Times writer Bill Plaschke (likely through the Lakers organization) suggested the Lakers trade LeBron this offseason

Are we clear about the timeline now? So who has all the leverage? If you guessed the Lakers organization, then you are correct!

LeBron James is not going to want to go anywhere else besides Cleveland. Klutch Sports leaked all these rumors because they assumed Cleveland wanted him back. With Cleveland actually not wanting him back, all of LeBron’s leverage instantly disappeared.

Which is why LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, tried to deny that they were pushing the Lakers to throw in the first-round pick to trade for John Wall. 

Too late! Now the Lakers are angry!

Bill Plaschke’s article was a clear sign that the Lakers are open to trading LeBron this offseason if Klutch Sports doesn’t play ball.

And let’s be clear: if the Lakers are trading LeBron, AD is being traded as well. AD didn’t demand a trade to play for the Lakers. He demanded a trade to play with LeBron.

That’s a big difference.

If both LeBron and AD are traded, the Lakers are going to endure several more losing seasons. It will be far worse than this season, maybe even as bad as the mid-2010s iteration of the Lakers.

Take it from a former Laker who once demanded a trade out of LA, Shaquille O’Neal, who strongly opposed the idea of trading LeBron in an interview with CNBC. 

"“If you trade LeBron, you’ll never win again, so you have to make a decision. If you put LeBron around the right guys, they are definitely going to win,” O’Neal said. “I think whoever put the team together needs to step up and try and fix it.”"

And why should LA rebuild? New Orleans has control over all their first-round picks until 2027 (due to the AD trade). The Lakers are out of trade assets – and there is no guarantee another superstar will sign with them in free agency.

So why would the Lakers trade their two best players? What would the team really get in return for LeBron and AD?

LeBron’s trade value will be much lower than expected. His contract expires after next season, and the team that trades for him might lose him for nothing if they can’t convince him to stay.

Most teams have correctly realized (including Cleveland) that LeBron is a one-year rental. He has made it clear that his last season in the NBA will be played with his son Bronny.

Wherever that is, we have no idea. Which championship contender has the trade assets and the desire to trade for one season of LeBron?

RELATED: What a LeBron James trade package could look like

With Cleveland not wanting him back, the only team that would make sense as a trade destination in my mind for LeBron would be the Denver Nuggets.

But why would Denver give up 10 years of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. for one season of LeBron? Would any other team be in a position to trade for LeBron?

AD’s value has also cratered. The Lakers would be lucky to recoup half of what they gave to New Orleans to acquire AD in 2019.

One trade that has been rumored is AD to Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns. Minnesota GM Sachin Gupta would immediately hang up if Rob Pelinka called him with that offer this offseason.

The bottom line is that the Lakers are not getting equal value for either LeBron or AD. Especially when it’s obvious they are sellers in the trade market this offseason.

So why not keep LeBron and AD going into next season? Maybe something will change during next season to make a trade make sense.

But right now, it’d be foolish to trade either player.