Lakers’ LeBron James Sends Cryptic Social Media Post: Trade Coming? Mavs Involved?

LeBron James posted a cryptic message on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday, the day after his Los Angeles Lakers fell to 24-25 on the season. Could a trade demand be coming? Could the Dallas Mavericks be involved? Let’s talk about it.

Dalton Trigg | Jan 31, 2024

Lakers’ LeBron James Sends Cryptic Social Media Post: Trade Coming? Mavs Involved? /

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With the NBA trade deadline just eight days away, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has raised some eyebrows with his latest cryptic post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Lakers lost to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, dropping them to 24-25 on the season, and James seemingly responded to that by posting an hour-glass emoji.

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— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 31, 2024

Is James simply saying it’s only a matter of time before the Lakers turn things around? Could he be saying it’s getting close to time for him to move on to a new situation? Or … maybe he’s just like us everyday individuals, simply counting down the minutes until lunch break.

Regardless of what it actually means, James’ timing with his cryptic post is impeccable given how close we are to the trade deadline.

Here at DallasBasketball.com, we’ve discussed at length the idea of James teaming up with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in Dallas. James has a great relationship with the star duo, and he’s also fond of Mavs head coach Jason Kidd, who won a championship with him in 2020 as a Lakers assistant coach. Not to mention, Irving attempted to recruit James to Dallas last summer while gauging his interest.

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Given LeBron’s $47.6 million contract, a path to trading for him is harder for Dallas than potentially pursuing him in free agency this summer. In theory, the Mavs could trade Tim Hardaway Jr., Grant Williams, Maxi Kleber, Josh Green and their potentially super-valuable 2027 first-round pick for James.

LeBron has never been traded in his career, and it’s hard to gauge his trade value given that he’s 39 years old but also still one of the best players in the league. But as is usually the case with NBA stars, it will come down to what LeBron wants. If he wants to play in Dallas or somewhere else other than the Lakers, chances are, it will happen. Brace yourselves, because we could be in for an exciting and dramatic trade deadline.

Published Jan 31, 2024

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.