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Well, talk about a fantasy trade. It was reported earlier this week that Kyrie Irving wanted the Dallas Mavericks to trade for… none other than LeBron James. Yes, THAT LeBron James. Trading for LeBron would make one of the most formidable Big 3s on paper, with the Los Angeles Lakers star joining his former teammate Irving and Luka Doncic. That trade would absolutely break the NBA if it did happen.
However… there are plenty of reasons why this trade does not make sense for the Mavs. Blockbuster trades are big and fun and splashy, but they don't always work out the way fans want it go. Let's list some of the reasons why this trade does not make sense for Dallas, despite all the glitz and the glamor of the deal.
Mavs' Finances Don't Work
This is the first and the biggest hurdle that the Mavs will need to overcome to make a LeBron James trade work. ClutchPoints' very own Brett Siegel did a deep dive talking about the intricacies of this hypothetical deal, but let's summarize it here as well.
Basically: the Mavs do not really have anything of note that they can offer to the Lakers for LeBron James. Assuming that Dallas wants to form this hypothetical Big 3, Luka Doncic wouldn't be included in the trade deal. That means that Dallas would need to package a combination of Tim Hardaway Jr, Christian Wood, along with whatever draft assets they have, just in order to match LeBron's salary.
That's… not going to be enticing enough for the Lakers. Hardaway and Wood do not move the needle enough for LA's title chances (assuming they want to compete with AD still), and their young prospects (Josh Green and Jaden Hardy) aren't exactly top prospects that teams are pining for. In addition, the Mavs' immediate draft assets aren't exactly shining top-10 prospects.
That's not even mentioning the humongous contract the Mavs will take on with LeBron James in tow. Between Luka's $40 million per year, Kyrie's impending $40+ million deal, and LeBron's $60+ million contract, that's a lot of money to commit to just three people. They'd be hard-pressed to find any sort of help for this Big 3.
Basketball fit is… clunky
Let's say, though, that the Mavs somehow made this deal work. Let's say that in this hypothetical scenario, the Mavs were able to trade for LeBron James despite all of the financial implications we talked about. That's a great Big 3 on paper, right? LeBron, Kyrie, and Luka can tear up the league, right?
Well, not quite. While the on-court talent is great on paper, in practice, it might not work as well as Mavs fans would hope. The biggest issue would be that the playstyles of the three players overlap way too much for them to be successful. All three players are ball-dominant playmakers that need the ball in their hands to be effective.
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Is it possible for the three players to coexist? Perhaps. We've seen the LeBron-Kyrie pairing work before, after all: Kyrie is a great shooter who can be effective as a spot-up shooter. LeBron also took on a more off-ball role in the playoffs this year, working as the roll man during the postseason. However, diminishing their roles on offense also diminishes the impact they can have in winning games.
That's not to mention's Luka Doncic's critical weakness: his inability to let someone else create. Kyrie Irving was brought in by the Mavs in hopes that he can shoulder some of Doncic's load. What ended up happening, though, was Kyrie was relegated to the corner as Luka isolated from the top of the key. If this trio is to work, Luka will need to learn how to work without the ball in his hands.
Volatility
There's also another big issue with this potential trio: their volatility. If Luka, Kyrie, and LeBron can make this trio work, it could absolutely dominate the league. However, whether this trio sees the court consistently is a massive issue.
Luka is perhaps the most durable of the three, rarely missing time during his stint with the Mavs. He's also a lot younger that the other two players, so the risk of him suffering an injury is minimal. As for the other two, though, it's a completely different story.
Even disregarding his off-court issues, Irving has been injury-prone over the last few seasons. He hasn't played more than 60 games since his final season in Boston during the 2017-18 campaign. He's had two major injuries that knocked him out for a significant chunk of the year.
As for LeBron, well, the man is 38 years old. We all thought that he was a cybernetic human the way he avoided major injuries. In the last two years though, we've seen more dents in the King's armor. He played through the 2023 playoffs with an injured foot, and he was clearly hobbled all playoffs long.
This is a dream pairing for basketball and Mavs fans. However, it might just be more fantastical than realistic.
