If Lakers call it quits, should the Cavs trade for LeBron?

Would the Lakers trade LeBron to Cavs?

This season’s Lakers aren’t going anywhere, and they don’t look like a team that would significantly improve by adding a couple of solid starters. They would be better with Buddy Hield and Myles Turner, or with Terry Rozier, or Eric Gordon. But would they be a contender? It seems extremely unlikely.

This summer Russell Westbrook comes off of the books and they will have cap space to go out and add a player, perhaps even a good one. Yet punting this year and hoping that LeBron is still a superstar capable of carrying a team is a tough call, and James has already made it clear he doesn’t want to waste any seasons. Would he stay bought in? And if they don’t win next season, that window would seem fairly close to slamming shut.

Trading LeBron allows the team to get back value for an aging superstar, one who is still able to play at a high level even if he is no longer the greatest player of his generation – not because someone passed him, but because everyone is now part of a different generation from him. His peers in age are barely playing, and he is still putting up top-15 numbers.

If the Lakers decide to move LeBron, then they probably have two options to choose from. Do they move him to a team to get younger players that can fit around Anthony Davis? Or do they try to get expiring deals to generate cap space that they can use to hunt difference-makers in free agency? Either way, the Cavs might just have what the Lakers are looking for.