LeBron James 'Grand Plan' Trade Idea: Big 3 with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving; NBA Las Vegas Team Ownership?

LeBron James isn't getting any younger, and his Los Angeles Lakers have struggled this season. Could it finally be time for him to join forces with two of the players he admires most – Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving?

Heading into the weekend, the Dallas Mavericks have won three of their last four games and own a 21-15 record, good enough for sixth-place in the Western Conference. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving's squad has done well in the first half of this season despite enduring several key injuries along the way.

However, Dallas is still a piece or two away from becoming a true championship contender, and numerous reports say the Mavs plan to attempt to upgrade their starting power-forward position before the Feb. 8 trade deadline. Given Irving's recruitment of former teammate and current Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James last summer, could that be the blockbuster deal the Mavs pull off this time around?

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Even with James being 39 years old, and the 17-19 Lakers having lost nine of their last 11 games, this particular trade idea is still very much considered a pipe-dream. One reason for that is the NBA's all-time leading scorer has never been traded in his 21-year career. If the Mavs are going to form a Big 3 of Doncic, Irving and James, their chances are likely greater this coming summer when James can become an unrestricted free agent.

But James isn't getting any younger, and as good as he still is – averaging 25.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.4 assists through 32 games – his championship window is starting to close. Joining Doncic and Irving in Dallas would keep it wide-open for at least a few more seasons. Other teams would be able to outbid the Mavs for James, but if the Lakers do trade him, it wouldn't be a shock if he's traded to the destination of his choice. And why wouldn't the Mavs be at the top of his list?

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James already has relationships with Doncic, Irving and Mavs head coach Jason Kidd, who was an assistant coach on the Lakers when they won a title in 2020. Given that he's expressed a desire to own an NBA team in Las Vegas when the league eventually expands.

"Hopefully I can bring my franchise here one day," James told ESPN. "That's the ultimate goal."

As it turns out, along with extending his title window, James could probably get a leg up in that future dream of his by rubbing shoulders with the Mavs' new majority owners, the Adelson family, who knows Las Vegas top to bottom as the owners of Las Vegas Sands ... and now they'll know a little bit about owning an NBA team as well.

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“They’re not basketball people, I’m not real estate people. That’s why I did it. I could’ve got more money selling to someone else, obviously I’m really excited, but it’s a great partnership," Mark Cuban said last week after his majority stake sale was finalized. “They basically said do what you gotta do, I want to win.”

When it comes to pipe-dream trade ideas and borderline conspiracy theories, consider this one of our favorite ones yet. It is a grand plan, but for any of it to become a chance of becoming a reality, it starts with James deciding that he wants the Mavs to be his next team ... and then it ends with the Lakers getting enough in return to cooperate.