Lakers: League Executives Preparing For Offseason LeBron James Trade

Could Los Angeles Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James be on the move this summer, should LA struggle to make the 2023 playoffs (or miss them entirely)?

Per Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports, rival teams are considering possible trades to acquire James this summer on the off-chance that he decides to force his way out of town. Recent interviews with James have suggested that he is at the very least less than satisfied with LA's front office, which has appeared reticent to make a trade that would force the club to surrender either of its two available first-round draft picks.

“It’s in the background, if you think you have a chance at him. There are preparations being made, just in case—you have to make them, like the Boy Scouts used to say, ‘Be Prepared,'" one rival general manager informed Deveney.

"It will not be an easy thing to do, and there are a lot of factors. There’s still a chance the Lakers make a trade this year, or that something clicks and they go on a run. You can’t count that out. And they will have a chance to do something that (James) likes in free agency this summer, something that could change the outlook there.

“But since he went to L.A. [in 2018], there has been this certainty that he was going to finish up (his career) in Los Angeles, that he wanted to be an entertainment mogul and that he needed to be in Hollywood for that. He is realizing that he is only going to get one shot at how he finishes his basketball career, though, and that the movie stuff will always be there. He doesn’t want his time playing basketball to end missing the playoffs every year for the Lakers.”