Two former Cleveland Cavaliers in Kyrie Irving and LeBron James are trying to reunite.
The rumor mills for the NBA are swirling as we head into the offseason. Unfortunately for us Cleveland Cavaliers fans, those rumors don’t pertain to us. Whether it’s LeBron James’ pending retirement, James Harden trying to go back to Houston, Jaylen Brown’s future in Boston, Damian Lillard’s future in Portland and so many other storylines, it’s going to be a madhouse this offseason.
And wouldn’t you know it, perpetual fire starter, Kyrie Irving, has started another blazing inferno for people to deal with. Irving kicked off a firestorm on social media a few days ago when the word got out that he was trying to recruit James to the Dallas Mavericks to team up with himself and one of the five best players in the league; Luka Doncic.
There are just two small, inconsequential problems, there’s no way that Dallas could afford to sign James in free agency, and oh yeah, James isn’t even a free agent this year. The only way James could go to Dallas this season is through (the very unlikely) buyout option, or if he’s traded.
Assuming Dallas can make it happen, do the Mavericks even have the contracts needed to make the deal happen? And if they did, would it really even matter? The Mavericks’ biggest issue in the 2022-2023 NBA season was defense. Something the Cavs don’t have an issue with.
In fact, of all the teams that it would make sense for James to head to be it this year or next, it would be Cleveland. They wouldn’t have to give up nearly as much in a trade, or they could sign him cheap. Why would he sign cheap? Unlike Dallas and the Lakers, Cleveland has a first-round pick in 2024, which would allow them to land Bronny James, James’ son who has NBA potential.
And the player James’ has spoken about playing alongside the most over the last decade.
So it’s unlikely that Dallas lands James, but because this is involving two of the biggest names that the Cavaliers have ever had, potentially reuniting outside of Cleveland, I thought it’d be neat to look at how it could happen.
What would it take for the Dallas Mavericks to land the former Cleveland Cavaliers standout LeBron James?
So, the only way this trade works out for anyone, is if the Los Angeles Lakers are done trying to compete with this core and have decided to blow it up. Anthony Davis isn’t a Top 10 player, and if we’re being honest, isn’t really a Top 25 player. At least not anymore. He’s not the kind of guy who can carry a team on his own to the playoffs. He never really was, despite the NBA media hyping him up for over a decade.
So if the Lakers are looking to ship off James and Davis, they could really restart and rebuild with a few good draft picks and trades. While James’ name would arguably be the biggest to ever be traded for, his production and age would ensure his trade package isn’t as robust as we’ve seen in years past.
The Mavericks don’t have a lot to offer for James, but they have enough if the Lakers are motivated, and James wants to be in Dallas. And that’s key, if James wants to go, after all, he’s done for the Lakers over the last four seasons, you’d think they’d do right by him and trade him there.
If they did, here’s what the trade would probably look like;
The Mavericks are giving up three key players in this trade, sending off Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, and Jalen Hardy for value, and Davis Bertans as the money. Then you have two draft picks as well, with the 2023 first-round pick, which is the 10th pick in July’s draft, and then the 2025 second-round pick.
With the idea that the Mavericks will be competing regularly for titles, even without James and Irving in the equation, it makes sense that you’d offer up two very good young players in Hardy and Green over more first-round picks in 2026 or 2027. Those draft picks will be very late in the first round, and you’re likely to get very similar, if not markedly worse types of players with Dallas’ picks.
You’d also turn around and trade Anthony Davis away as well, and if you can ship him to Portland for the third pick in this year’s draft, then you can really get jump-started on rebuilding your team. What happens to Austin Reeves is anyone’s guess, but I’d love to see him traded to Dallas.
After all, James is going to be a decent bucket-getter off the bat, and I threw in Jarred Vanderbilt for defense, but if the Mavericks can also land Reeves, who is 25, and already very ahead of the rebuild timeline for the Lakers, then the Mavericks will be poised to do some real work in 2023-2024.
Would a reunion between LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, regardless of where really work?
If the Dallas Mavericks did land former Cleveland Cavaliers stars Kyrie Irving and LeBron James (Irving is a free agent this offseason), while also landing Jarred Vanderbilt and Austin Reeves in the same trade, then yes. I think you’d have yourself a unit that could at least contend for the Western Conference Finals, if not the NBA Finals.
You would need to be creative with who else you bring in, as you wouldn’t have the cap space to do anything significant. Maybe you could bring in someone like Dwight Howard or Miles Plumlee to start at center, and run a lineup of Luka Doncic at the point, Irving at shooting guard, Reeves at small forward, James at power forward, and then Howard/Plumlee at center.
Then you could have Reggie Bullock, Max Kleber, Vanderbilt, and another low-cost free agent off the bench. Preferably someone who can score and play defense. Maybe get bold and just go get someone like Mac McClung.
While Irving isn’t a great option, Doncic is such a good player, that he could likely carry whatever issues Irving brings to the table, as long as James is there to help keep Irving in line.
That wouldn’t be the case in Los Angeles.
If James doesn’t get traded and all of this is a long con to land Irving in Los Angeles with James, then more than likely that team falls apart. Irving’s too chaotic to be in such a major market like LA. Not only that but with Davis’ long-term health always in question, there’ll be a lot of games that James and Irving have to carry the workload. It’s also unlikely, especially with the new CBA rules coming into play, that the Lakers would match an offer put on Reeves.
Sadly for Irving, all the success he thinks he could have with James would have been his had he stayed in Cleveland for the long haul. Instead, he’s going to find out that you can’t recreate the past.