Lakers News: Lamar Odom's Extreme Makeover Plan To Return L.A. To Contention

Would Los Angeles be so bold as to make the move he's suggesting?

On the latest edition of his new Bleav podcast series The LADE Show with co-host Aron Cohen, two-time former Los Angeles Lakers champion power forward/center Lamar Odom served up a piping hot take about how his 3-10 Lakers can fix their future: trading their best player for a bevy of assets.

"If you trade LeBron, you know you're doing more than rebuilding.... If you did, probably going to put yourself back into contention," Odom offered. "You can get half a team... you're picking two or three players that [have] been playing together already... I do call him 'God James,' but 'God' knows that the world evolves."

Though no longer his MVP self, 18-time All-Star Lakers forward LeBron James is still one of the 20 or so best players in the league. What kind of trades could net the Lakers the kind of return that would actually improve their short-term product?

The big caveat with this is the fact that James is not even trade-eligible until the 2023 offseason.

Would the Boston Celtics enact the much-rumored deal they wanted to do for Kevin Durant if the return was James? That deal would have sent All-Star swingman Jaylen Brown, Defensive Player of the Year point guard Marcus Smart, and a boatload of first-round draft picks to Brooklyn in exchange for Durant, who is three years younger than James and one of the greatest shooters of all time. James has proven to be about as durable as Durant lately (i.e. not very), has an extra four NBA seasons under his belt (Durant spent a year in college at Texas, whereas 37-year-old LeBron entered the league straight out of high school), and has a game more predicated on athleticism -- one that may not age as well as Durant's has.

A deal of this quality, something that would send a solid package of good young talent and future draft equity to Los Angeles in exchange for James, is hard to find. Would trading for, say, Mikal Bridges, Deandre Ayton (which would allow Anthony Davis to slide over to power forward), and draft picks move the needle enough for L.A. to do it? Would Phoenix even want to do it, given that Bridges's new contract extension looks like a steal?