LeBron 'Keen' on Playing with Kyrie Again; Lakers or Mavs?

LeBron James reportedly still wants to play alongside Kyrie Irving again at some point. If that happens, though, will it be with the Los Angeles Lakers or with the Dallas Mavericks?

No matter how happy Kyrie Irving is with the Dallas Mavericks, the team he re-signed with this summer on a three-year, $126 million contract, he can't ever seem to fully escape the Los Angeles Lakers trade rumors that have followed him for the better part of the last two years.

The Athletic's Jovan Buha is the latest media member to add more fuel to that speculation, as he says on "The Athletic NBA Show" that Lakers star LeBron James 'has been very keen' on teaming up with Irving at some point.

“[LeBron’s] made it very clear that he and Kyrie have made up," Buha said. "LeBron has been very keen on potentially playing with Kyrie again. I would not be surprised if those rumors come up again, closer to the trade deadline, depending on what happens at Dallas.”

But ... what if it's more dependent on what happens in Los Angeles? After all, Irving is on a newly-minted three-year contract and is playing alongside 24-year-old Luka Doncic, who is one of James' favorite players and already has four All-NBA First Team nods in five seasons. Meanwhile, James is potentially entering the final year of his contract, as he could be an unrestricted free agent next summer by opting out of the final year of his contract.

Remember earlier this summer when Irving was recruiting James to Dallas nearly a full month before he signed his new three-year contract? Yes, the Lakers made it to the Western Conference Finals last season while the Mavs failed to even make the Play-In tournament. Many will be sure to bring that up when the idea of James wanting to join the Mavs is mentioned. However, the fact of the matter is that Doncic and Irving have only played 16 games with each other, and both had nagging injuries at the end of last season as well.

Dallas folded down the stretch last season after the Irving trade, but it wasn't a good team before that either. Now that the Mavs have added depth with the additions of Grant Williams, Dereck Lively II, Seth Curry, OMax Prosper, Richaun Holmes and others, they are poised to be much better next season than people realize.

Although the Lakers had a great 2022-23 season and a pretty solid offseason as well, their ceiling isn't as high as what Doncic and Irving offer in Dallas. James isn't getting any younger, so what happens when he's not able to be the No. 1 option in L.A. anymore? Will Anthony Davis, who has been mostly unreliable for the last few years, carry the Lakers? How about Austin Reaves?

If James is going to play with Irving again before he retires, it makes much more sense for that to happen in Dallas than it does in Los Angeles. We believed that to be the case before the Mavs had the stellar offseason they've had this summer, and we certainly believe it even more now.

The Lakers better hope they can live up to the expectations that follow making a trip to the Western Conference Finals, because if they falter, the LeBron-Kyrie rumors will surely come up again, as Buha states. But it won't be rumors that Lakers fans will be happy to hear.

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