Lakers finally trade for Paul George in proposed LeBron James trade idea

The Los Angeles Lakers have an interesting summer ahead of them. Los Angeles’ biggest priority this offseason is trying to fix the Russell Westbrook situation and get him off the team without having to give up a slew of assets. However, also lingering over the offseason is what LeBron James does with his contract situation.

LeBron James is entering the last year of his contract next season and the Lakers can offer him a two-year extension worth $97 million. While that is big money, there is speculation that LeBron could not agree to an extension this summer, instead going back to the year-by-year structure that he utilized in his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers to gain leverage.

If that happens and the Lakers get a whiff that he is going to leave the team after next season anyway then the better move for the future of the franchise would be to trade him. A front office convincing itself to trade LeBron James is still a massive hurdle to overcome, but in the big picture, it would be the right move.

We have given two of our LeBron James trade ideas with both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers and there are some interesting trade ideas out in the NBA world as well. Appearing on a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Fox Sports’ Kevin Wildes presented his idea for a LeBron James trade:

"“[LeBron] does have an empire in LA and his family in LA and Bronny has another year of school […] and I feel like the only one in the class whose raising my hand like ‘there is another team in Los Angeles that literally plays in the same building’. […] I feel like a Paul George — who can play with Westbrook, by the way, that’s the bonus take of it — A Paul George for LeBron move, that LeBron would have to initiate it’s not like Rob Pelinka would do this, that LeBron would say ‘you know what, maybe me and Kawhi, maybe that’s the move’."

That is certainly an interesting trade idea and would finally fulfill the prophecy of Paul George playing for the Lakers, which is something that seemed inevitable four years ago.

What would a LeBron James for Paul George trade look like for the Lakers?

When it really comes down to it, if this proposed trade were to ever be possible then it would likely be a simple star-for-star swap. The salaries are close enough that no extra contracts have to be thrown in and while LeBron ranks higher on the league’s totem pole, the Clippers would not need to attach picks.

George is younger and is locked down for longer than LeBron. That alone adds the value that is potentially lost in dropping off from LeBron to George, although it is not that big of a drop-off whatsoever.

It would be an interesting dynamic to see George and Anthony Davis be the center of the team moving forward and as far as next season is concerned, George would fit better with Russell Westbrook.

The team is still not getting far with Westbrook, but the Lakers would not have to then sacrifice future assets to make LeBron happy to contend for this one season. They could let the Westbrook contract simply play out and open a ton of cap space for the 2023 summer to build around George and Davis.

Would this trade ever happen? No. Even if LeBron wanted to try and force his way to the Clippers, the Lakers likely would rather see him walk than trade him to the Clippers. Plus, you could make the legitimate case that the Clippers would rather trade Kawhi (which is what Bill Simmons alluded to). Kawhi is the better player but is never available. Would the Lakers really want to take that risk?

It will be interesting to see how LeBron’s contract situation unfolds this summer and what storylines emerge out of it. If there is one thing LeBron has taught us in his career it is that anything is possible with him.