Mavs Top Betting Odds for Lakers’ LeBron James Trade; Reading NBA Rumor Tea Leaves

As the NBA Draft nears, trade rumors start to heat up, and the Dallas Mavericks are the odds-on favorites to strike a deal for Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James if he ends up being moved.

Dalton Trigg | Jun 16, 2023

In this story:

Although no new rumors have surfaced after Kyrie Irving reportedly reached out to recruit Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James to the Dallas Mavericks a little more than a week ago, that apparently hasn't stopped oddsmakers from buying the hype.

According to SportsBetting.ag's re-opened "next team" odds, the Mavs are at the top of the list for James with 3/1 odds. The Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns are right behind Dallas with 4/1 and 5/1 odds, respectively.

Many are skeptical that James would really choose to leave Los Angeles, considering that his son, Bronny, recently committed to play college basketball at USC. James' family is comfortably rooted in L.A. after five seasons with the Lakers, and it would understandably be hard for him to leave that.

However, if maximizing his chances to win another NBA championship is important enough, then James might consider finishing out his illustrious career in a new setting. Although the Lakers made it to the Western Conference Finals this season, being swept by the eventual-champion Denver Nuggets showed just how far off L.A. is from winning a title. James isn't getting any younger, and Anthony Davis is an incredible talent, but he can't stay healthy and has a tendency to be inconsistent from game to game.

One rumor states that James told Irving he would "think about it," when asked to consider joining the Mavs, and why wouldn't he? James won a championship with Irving in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the two have remained close since then. James has also been on the record saying that Luka Doncic is his favorite player in the league, and there were rumors about him potentially considering joining the Mavs even before Irving found his way to Dallas.

All of this stuff is unlikely and surely must be taken with a grain of salt, but the Mavs aren't the betting favorites to land LeBron for no reason. The logic is there, and we'll just have to see if 1) joining Doncic and Irving in Dallas is something James truly want, and 2) GM Nico Harrison can make such a trade work with limited assets compared to what other teams could offer.

Follow Dalton Trigg on Twitter. SUBSCRIBE to Mavs Step Back on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Dallas Mavericks? Click Here. Follow DallasBasketball.com on Twitter and Facebook.

Published Jun 16, 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.