LeBron James trade rumors are ramping up this season, and some believe that the Golden State Warriors could be on play to make a move and the King with his longtime rival, Stephen Curry. But in a recent segment on First Take, Stephen A. Smith explained why James doesn’t deserve the opportunity.
“I don’t want to see it because LeBron James does not deserve it,” said Stephen A. Smith on ‘First Take’ with Shannon Sharpe. “LeBron James does not deserve to be with Steph Curry and here’s why: Stay yo a** right there in LA… You had a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, you had a Kyle Kuzma, you had a Montrezl Harrell, you had an Alex Caruso and what did you do? You let all those cats go away cause you wanted your boy Russell Westbrook. He did not look good with the Lakers and you [LeBron James] wanted that. A lot of times we get caught up in the greatness of LeBron as an individual player, that we don’t pay enough attention to the power of his influence and the moves that he compels the team to make.”
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As a 4x champion, 4x MVP, and 20x All-Star, LeBron is undoubtedly one of the NBA’s all-time greatest players. He’s the king of longevity and as reliable as they come with a career average of 27.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game on 49.5% shooting.
But even for as great as LeBron is on the court, he’s not as great when it comes to building a team. As someone who has called the shots for years now, James has more authority than most players in his position but it hasn’t come with the results you’d expect.
In the summer of 2021, James had the Lakers give up several core members (Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) in exchange for Russell Westbrook and it completely overhauled the roster.
After splitting up the group that won the title in 2020, the Lakers proceeded to replace them with players of inadequate fit and Westbrook was the worst of all. He was a disaster for the franchise because of LeBron’s own making and it wasn’t until he left in 2023 that things started to improve.
Now, with the Lakers depleted of all major assets, LeBron has nowhere else to turn to get the help he requires and it’s why the Warriors have come up as a potential landing spot for the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
After years of facing off against each other, LeBron and Steph have the opportunity to join forces and it’s something the Warriors have already considered before. Such a trade would require major sacrifice on the part of the Warriors, but they could make it work if they’re willing to give up Andrew Wiggins, picks, and a young player or two (like Jonathan Kuminga or Brandin Podziemski).
But after giving up on his own roster and trading it all in for a failed Russell Westbrook experiment, many would argue that LeBron (like Stephen A. Smith said) must stay with the Lakers to clean up the mess he created. Only time will tell how committed he is to seeing this through.
After the slate of games for the Emirates NBA Cup this week, the Lakers will resume play on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center at 8:00 PM EST. The Lakers have even more time off before their next game on December 19th against the Kings at Golden 1 Center. They play the Kings again on the road two days later, at 6:00 PM EST.
