Lakers Rumors: NBA Insider Predicts LA Trades LeBron James in New Year

A Sports Illustrated writer believes LeBron will be traded in 2023.

A new year is upon us, and that's good news for the Lakers — 2022 was not very kind to them. 

The Lakers have been pretty bad this year for lack of a better word, and sadly, LeBron James is in the thick of it. James, who is still playing at an elite superstar level, missed the playoffs last season (and was never close to making it), and is en route to missing the playoffs for the first time in back-to-back seasons in his career. 

James has repeatedly expressed his frustrations with the team in a non-confrontational way, and it seems like the front office will do nothing to improve the team. 

That's why Sports Illustrated senior writer Chris Mannix issued a bold prediction that LeBron will be traded in 2023. 

"LeBron James Will Be Traded:

"Let's face it: LeBron James's decision to extend his contract with the Lakers was a mistake," Mannix wrote. "It was a mistake for James, who doesn't need the guaranteed cash, pushing his deal through 2023–24 limited his leverage. It was also a mistake for L.A., which didn't have the pieces to build a title contender around James and (this season, anyway) doesn't have the flexibility to do anything with him.

"In an ideal world, the Lakers use the cap space created by Russell Westbrook's exit next summer to sign Kyrie Irving or Draymond Green, flip a draft pick or two and vault back into contention next season. But if that doesn't happen, can the Lakers really go into 2023 with James, Anthony Davis and whatever group of castoffs they can assemble around them? Would James want to? Dealing James would take some chutzpah, but if L.A. whiffs on big-ticket items next offseason, is there really a better choice?"

With the way James' contract is constructed, he cannot be traded until six months after signing his extension, which happens to land in the February 9th deadline. That means, he can't be moved until after this season.

The Lakers are 13th in the Western Conference, 3.5 games back from the play-in and 5.5 games back from the 6th seed — but it seems like they're way further back than that. 

LeBron wants to win, and if he believes that will be somewhere else, then so be it. L.A. has done little to help James out, and may not make a win-now trade this year. A now 38-year-old should not have to shoulder this kind of burden 

The Akron native deserves to be competing for a championship and while we all hope for it to be in L.A., it most certainly doesn't seem like it will be.