Lakers' LeBron James to Retire ... Or Get Traded to Luka Doncic's Mavs?

While LeBron James ponders his NBA future, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks find themselves on the betting odds list to trade for him this summer.

Dalton Trigg | May 23, 2023

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The seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers' Cinderella NBA playoff run came to an end on Monday night as Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets completed a sweep in the Western Conference Finals.

Despite 40 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and two steals from 38-year-old LeBron James, the depth of the Nuggets was just too much for the overachieving Lakers to overcome. After the game, James made some comments that seemed like he's considering retirement this summer.

"I've got a lot to think about," James said. "Just personally with me moving forward with the game of basketball. I've got a lot to think about."

Meanwhile, if retirement isn't on the table for James, perhaps a potential trade out of L.A. will be. Despite all the rumors surrounding the Lakers' potential pursuits of Dallas Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving in free agency, the NBA's new CBA makes that hard to accomplish.

According to BetOnline.ag, the Mavs have 10/1 odds of being James' next team if he's traded. The New York Knicks are the first team on that list with 3/1 odds.

At DallasBasketball.com, we've always said that if James and Irving truly want to team up again, the most logical way for them to do that would be to join forces with Luka Doncic in Dallas. A trio of Doncic, Irving and James would be more of a title contender than James and Irving would be on a stripped down Lakers roster.

Regardless of what happens with James over the summer, this NBA offseason is setting up to be one of the crazier ones we’ve seen in a while. The Mavs have big moves to make in order to build a true championship contender around Doncic, who is fresh off his fourth All-NBA First Team selection in five years.

Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com for updates as we get closer to the draft on June 22 and free agency on June 30.

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Published May 23, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.