Lakers News: NBA Expert Ranks LeBron James 35th On Trade Value List

The Ringer's Bill Simmons revealed his somewhat annual trade value list, and LeBron James did not rank highly for a variety of factors.

The NBA offseason is a time for wild speculation about player trades. Who's on the trade block and who's in the market for a star are the two storylines that dominate the NBA summer. In his annual Trade Value List, The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked 64 NBA player according to their value in hypothetical trade scenarios. For several reasons, LeBron James did not rank highly.

Simmons' ranking criteria was primarily based on six components: current salary, current contract length, age, players' contentment with their current, or potential new situation, recent trades shaping the market, and accounting for the impact on luxury-tax and next-day-cap scenarios following a hypothetical trade.

Simmons ranked LeBron James 35th on his list, and included him in "Group H", dubbed the "Sorry, He's Worth More to Us Than to You" group. 

The national pundit reviewed the list with Ryen Russillo on his podcast this week, and Rusillo noted how gauging LeBron's trade value is difficult task.

"...I first looked at it, I was like wait, Lebron's 35th? But, I don't...when you start running through the names ahead of him, it's almost an impossible conversation of what he's worth on the trade market. He's gotta age at some point here pretty quickly right?"

Simmons also admitted that LeBron James could be higher on the list.

"I think he's probably 35, you could talk me into he could be in the high 20s."

Before Lakers fans get too excited, the rankings aren't a "NBA player rankings". They serve as an evaluation of how players would be valued in hypothetical trade scenarios. Nor was it an announcement that every player on the list is available to be acquired.

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss previously stated that even if LeBron doesn't sign an extension in early August, the team won't explore trading James. LA is a notoriously star-driven team, trading away one of the biggest stars in the league is far from the franchise's modus operandi.

Unless things get really, really weird in early August during the LeBron James extension talks, James isn't going anywhere.