It seems like everyone has been talking about the possibility of LeBron James asking the Los Angeles Lakers to trade him after the cryptic comments his agent, Rich Paul, recently made when he exercised his player option for the 2025-26 season.
Right now, it seems the chances of him doing so, let alone actually getting traded, anytime soon are slim. But there has been some noise that the Dallas Maverickscould be a possible destination for the future Hall of Famer should he want out.
The Mavericks certainly could have the talent to compensate the Lakers while still giving James enough help to feel he could contend for an NBA championship right away. However, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN pointed out, they would only be interested in James if he was bought out.
“Dallas—I’m told that they would only be interested in LeBron in a buyout situation,” McMenamin said.
“Dallas—I’m told—they would only be interested in LeBron in a buyout situation.”
– @mcten
(h/t @SwishAccess )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 3, 2025
The chances of James negotiating a buyout of his contract with the Lakers seem to be almost zero. One would have to think L.A. would want assets in return should James want to leave before the trade deadline, and the teams across the league that are contenders wouldn’t have the salary cap space to give him a big salary.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Mavericks would only be interested in LeBron James in one scenario