LeBron James Pressuring Lakers To Make 1 Big Trade?

LeBron James came into the NBA offseason looking to sign a contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Before doing so, however, he made the front office an interesting proposal: sign one of the players I want on the team alongside me and I’ll sacrifice some money for them.

Among the names on that list: Dejounte Murray who ended up going to the New Orleans Pelicans, Jonas Valanciunas who wound up with the Washington Wizards and Klay Thompson who joined the Dallas Mavericks.

Thompson, in particular, opted to take less money to go to the Mavs. It wasn’t until last week that the real reason why that occurred emerged.

According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, there is a big trade that James may pressure the Lakers to make once the season actually tips off.

That trade? One centered around Valanciunas.

“There was some interest, obviously,” Buha said.

“He was on LeBron’s list, so I think the Lakers will probably revisit that. … I view it more as more of a mid-to-low tier trade target for them.”

Clearly the Lakers have interest in acquiring another center. They were also linked to a massive trade with the Chicago Bulls that would address the position for them, too.

Over the summer the Lakers made four players available for trade. If they do go after Valanciunas, some combination of them will likely be involved.

Time will tell whether the Lakers make a play for Valanciunas, but if they do, it would go a long way in bolstering their championship aspirations.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.