Grade the Trade: Cavaliers bring LeBron home in explosive trade proposal

The NBA is a league packed with stories. From the narratives being told on the court to those swirling around rumors and team-building, the story of the league this season is made up of hundreds of smaller tales all woven together into the beautiful tapestry that is the greatest sports league on the planet.

To name a few of the biggest stories of this season to need to look at the greatest player to ever lace up his sneakers, LeBron James. He is playing at an All-NBA level despite being 39 years old, defying Father Time in a way no player has ever done before. Yet his team is disappointing like few LeBron James teams have ever done before.

Looking into LeBron's past to his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a massive storyline of their own brewing around star guard Donovan Mitchell. His ability to hit free agency is now just 18 months away, putting pressure on this upcoming season for the Cavs and Mitchell to agree to an extension. That, in turn, has many speculating as to whether the Cavaliers should trade Mitchell now to get the best return.

NBA media personality Bill Simmons decided to take all of those storylines and mash them together. In a recent podcast, Simmons cracked open the lid on something that seemed unthinkable: could LeBron James ask for a trade out of Los Angeles?

Could LeBron James be traded?

If it became clear that the Los Angeles Lakers were not going to compete for a championship this season, LeBron could look at the sands remaining in his hourglass and conclude he needed to change teams one last time in order to chase title number five.

Would Cleveland make sense as such a destination? Let's look at the deal proposed on Simmons' podcast to see if it makes sense for LeBron, for the Lakers, and for the Cavaliers.