LeBron James trade rumors: Ranking all 29 teams as possible destinations if the King and the Lakers break up

For the past seven years, the interests of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers broadly aligned. James rescued the Lakers from their post-Kobe Bryant odyssey. Even as he aged, James remained one of the best players in the NBA. Merely having him on their team opened a championship window. While the last few years were certainly shakier, the Lakers invested quite a bit into winning with James. They traded their young core for Anthony Davis (and won the 2020 title). They gave up their depth for Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick to get off of him when his acquisition failed. The partnership was obviously bumpy at times, especially in the post-Westbrook era, but it was productive. The Lakers won a championship and reached another Western Conference finals. It made sense for the two sides to continue investing in one another.

But for the first time since he arrived in 2018, that may no longer be true. The Lakers acquired Luka Dončić at the trade deadline. Dončić is 26. If the Lakers manage their roster around him properly, they could contend with him for the next 8-10 years. James might only have 8-10 months. He doesn’t have time for prudence. His agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Sunday that “LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” and while he respects the team’s need to build for the future, his priority is to continue trying to win at the highest level. If the Lakers are going to do that, they are probably going to invest resources that will impact their future.

They’d probably prefer not to trade their 2031 first-round pick yet, for instance. If they wait until next summer, they can pair it with their 2033 pick and swing for a possible star to replace James if he leaves or retires. They can also generate max cap space next offseason, which is likely partially dictating their negotiations with key wing defender Dorian Finney-Smith, who opted out of his contract and wants a multi-year deal. James doesn’t care how well the Finney-Smith contract ages. He wants valuable teammates to stay. He wants the Lakers to meaningfully improve through trade. He wants them to meaningfully compete for a championship today. It might make more sense for them to aim for such contention tomorrow.

Perhaps there is a middle ground here. The surprising buyout of Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton, for instance, might have opened the door for an addition that makes sense for all parties involved here. Ayton will be 27 on opening night, young enough to win on Dončić’s timeline, but someone who has been to the NBA Finals in the past and would likely benefit from playing next to a culture-setter and playmaker like James.

But given the limited resources at their disposal, there is no guarantee that the Lakers can improve enough to placate James. And that’s where things start to get interesting. If the Lakers decide their priority is the future, it no longer makes sense for them to keep James and it no longer makes sense for James to stay with them. At that point, it would make sense for the two sides to mutually seek a trade.

This might sound strange in light of James’ decision to opt into the final year of his contract on Sunday, but the move actually makes a trade easier, not harder. Remember, the only team with significant cap space this offseason is the Nets. James had nowhere to go in free agency. He could have moved through a sign-and-trade, but that would have hard-capped the acquiring team at the first apron. James wouldn’t want to limit his new employer’s maneuverability. Most importantly, though, opting in allowed him to retain his no-trade clause. If he does move, he can effectively pick the destination.

That’s the key to all of this. The Lakers can’t ship James off to Siberia. This would have to be a mutual decision to break up, one that would net the Lakers meaningful asset value it could apply to its short-term rebuild and get James to a team he’d feel comfortable with as a 2026 contender. So, which teams check those boxes? Who could possibly make sense as the first team to ever trade for LeBron James? We’re going to rank all 29 other teams as possible destinations.

Tier 8: He’d never waive the no-trade clause for them

• 29. Utah Jazz: If even rookies are trying to steer clear of Utah, it’s hard to imagine the Jazz landing perhaps the greatest player of all time when he has the right to block any trade.
• 28. New Orleans Pelicans: Dejounte Murray recently detailed the dysfunction within this organization. He and James share Paul as an agent. James isn’t touching this trainwreck.
• 27. Charlotte Hornets: A fun idea back when Michael Jordan owned the team. Now, they’re just another small-market lottery team. At least James has gotten used to playing without a center, because the Hornets have traded the Suns all of their big men lately.
• 26. Washington Wizards: Maybe if James was simultaneously elected President of the United States and wanted to cut down on his commute?
• 25. Sacramento Kings: Fun fact: James is currently the only active NBA player to have been in the league in a season in which the Kings won a playoff series. Probably not a great indicator of their 2025 championship hopes.
• 24. Toronto Raptors: They’ve operated as if they’ve wanted a star this offseason, but this isn’t Kawhi Leonard. They can’t swipe James in the dead of night thanks to his no-trade clause, and this team just isn’t close enough to go for him.
• 23. Portland Trail Blazers: At least James would be close to Nike headquarters, and he might like playing with Jrue Holiday. But even with a second-half resurgence, the Blazers still won only 36 games a season ago.
• 22. Memphis Grizzlies: They may have gotten a haul for Desmond Bane, but they took a step back in doing so. Besides, a number of stars have tried to deter trades to Memphis within the past year. It doesn’t seem like somewhere James would want to go.
• 21. Chicago Bulls: Right city, wrong everything else. Besides, James is chasing Jordan’s ghost. Odds are, he wouldn’t want to do that in Jordan’s building even if the Bulls are good, which they aren’t.

Tier 7: He probably wouldn’t waive the no-trade clause

• 20. Detroit Pistons: Very interesting basketball fit. An elite defense with two high-end shot creators like James and Cade Cunningham could do well in a weak East. But James tends to respect older players. He wanted the Lakers to chase Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan and James Harden in their 30s last offseason. It seems unlikely that he’d want to bet the end of his career on Cunningham at this stage. 
• 19. Minnesota Timberwolves: They went through a version of this exercise with Kevin Durant. He didn’t want to play for them. They backed off even without a no-trade clause. The basketball fit next to Olympic teammate Anthony Edwards is superb. We’ve just never seen a star player actively choose Minnesota.
• 18. Orlando Magic: Better market than Detroit or Minnesota, but Paolo Banchero is probably too young. Besides, there’s very little shooting here. The team would thrive on talent and versatility, but the fit is iffy.
• 17. Atlanta Hawks: A somewhat similar situation to Orlando: a lot of big wings, not a lot of shooting, desirable market. Trae Young could ease his ball-handling load, though, so the Hawks get a slight edge. However, Young left Klutch Sports for CAA last year, so who knows where the James camp falls on him.
• 16. Philadelphia 76ers: Paul met with the 76ers when James was a free agent in 2018, but James just won’t want to gamble the rest of his career on Joel Embiid’s health. That’s too much of a variable.

Tier 6: Not enough to trade even if he wanted it

• 15. Milwaukee Bucks: The concept of partnering up with Giannis Antetokounmpo in a weak East is interesting. The Bucks just have nothing of value to offer. The Lakers aren’t eating an extra year of Damian Lillard money to get whatever meager youth and draft capital the Bucks can muster.
• 14. Phoenix Suns: The idea a double no-trade clause swap of James for Bradley Beal is hilarious but unrealistic. The Lakers aren’t taking his contract. The Suns could offer the players acquired in the Durant deal, Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, but James isn’t going to try to clean up the mess Durant left. The Lakers likely wouldn’t be too interested in Green and Brooks anyway. Both contracts conflict with their 2026 cap space ambitions.
• 13. Houston Rockets: OK this might sound a bit strange, but hear me out. The Rockets absolutely have the assets to do this. What they lack is the matching salary. They already spent Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks getting Durant. They declined Fred VanVleet’s team option and re-signed him to a new deal, so he’s not tradable. The Rockets would have to give up Alperen Sengun just to match money. They aren’t doing that. So there’s no plausible math barring something unforeseen. James might like to be a Rocket. It just doesn’t make sense on Houston’s end.

Tier 5: Maybe if the playoffs had gone differently

• 12. Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton would be an ideal James teammate if healthy, but now that he’s out with a torn Achilles, there’s just not enough here to compel James.
• 11. Oklahoma City Thunder: They won the championship. They’re not changing a thing. Literally: they enter free agency with all 15 of their roster spots settled.

Tier 4: There’s too much bad blood

• 10. Boston Celtics: James has been battling the Celtics for his entire adult life, and even if he leaves the Lakers, there’s enough Laker in him to know not to play for Boston if he values his legacy in Los Angeles. Besides, with Jayson Tatum injured, there’s little benefit in joining the Celtics anyway. He’d be a substitute teacher while Tatum recovers.
• 9. Miami Heat: Pat Riley has openly said that he’d welcome a return from James to Miami. If James was willing to forgive Dan Gilbert, he’d likely be open to forgiving anyone if it suited him. But Miami isn’t his hometown. He has less of a reason to return there than he did Cleveland. But James has said — without naming names — that he was hurt by some of the reactions people in Miami gave him when he left. Riley is notoriously hands on when it comes to micromanaging even the smallest details in Miami. He even took away LeBron’s chocolate chip cookies. James is in his 40s. It’s hard to imagine he has the patience for that anymore, especially for a sub-.500 Heat team.

Tier 3: He might actually consider it

• 8. Brooklyn Nets: James infamously once claimed that while New York is his favorite city, Brooklyn is his favorite borough. The Nets are a blank canvas. Their cap space makes absorbing James in a deal simple. Their pick surplus gives them the tools to trade for another big fish immediately after landing James. It’s a tempting possibility, but probably an unlikely one. James can’t depend on another star trade. This isn’t 2018. He doesn’t have time to wait for the next Anthony Davis to become available. Another trade would have to be simultaneous, so it seems unlikely. Also, the Nets have five rookies on their roster. Hardly win-now material.
• 7. San Antonio Spurs: James and Gregg Popovich have long shared a deep mutual respect. They faced off in the Finals twice, and even if Popovich is retired from coaching, he’s still in the organization as the team’s president. James could compete for a championship right now with De’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama. The question here is whether or not the Spurs would go hard for him. They didn’t make a major offer for Kevin Durant, who is younger and has Texas ties. LeBron’s no-trade clause could prove problematic if they need matching salary for another star trade. Like the Thunder, this is probably a pass on the team’s part. They’re happy where they are.
• 6. Denver Nuggets: James once called Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke a “dear friend.” They’ve vacationed together. The Nuggets have tried recruiting James in the past, but to no avail. Of course, they didn’t have Nikola Jokić at the peak of his powers back then. They do now. The James-Jokić duo would be absolutely terrifying, but is there a trade here that makes sense for the Lakers? They likely wouldn’t want Jamal Murray’s contract considering how much shot-creation they have. Maybe there’s something with Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. potentially going to other teams? It’s a difficult trade to construct, and it’s not exactly the sort of market James usually chooses, but if he wants to compete for a championship, Denver is somewhere he could do it.
• 5. Los Angeles Clippers: James likes living in Los Angeles. If one of its teams doesn’t want to go all-in for him, would the other? The Clippers came one game short of beating the team that came one game short of beating the champions. A lack of shot-creation when James Harden rested (or, in the latter stages of the Denver series, even played) was their biggest problem. They have a fair bit of expiring salary and two tradable deep future first-round picks to use as enticements. Would they use them for a short window with James? Would James want to take a risk on Kawhi Leonard’s health? Would the Lakers ever willingly trade with the Clippers again after the Ivica Zubac debacle? There are smaller questions here, but they are answerable ones. The Clippers aren’t a top tier contender here, but they belong in the conversation.

Tier 2: We can really see it

• 4. Dallas Mavericks: Jovan Buha has already listed Dallas a team to keep an eye on if James asks for a move, and it makes plenty of sense. He’s already played with their two best players, Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, and he tried to play with both of them at the same time in Los Angeles, so we know he’d fit. His win-now timeline aligns with Nico Harrison’s shorter-term plans, and the two surely know each other through their mutual Nike connections, which seem to inform a fair bit of Harrison’s moves for the Mavericks. He’d be another great mentor for Cooper Flagg. We know Dallas has things the Lakers want — Max Christie, their 2029 first-round pick — because they literally just made a major trade. The move would deprive Dallas of most of its depth and would likely cost a decent chunk of draft capital, but it’s feasible with other teams involved. Irving tried to recruit James to Dallas two summers ago. Maybe this time, it works.
• 3. Golden State Warriors: The Warriors tried to trade for James at the 2024 trade deadline. He turned them down then. Maybe things are different now, especially since he’s had the experience of playing with Stephen Curry at the Olympics. He and Draymond Green are known to be close despite their Finals rivalry. The three of them would likely relish the challenge of competing for a fifth ring together. Their deep future first-round picks — let’s say 2028 and 2032 to sidestep the Stepien Rule — would surely appeal to the Lakers. James is 40 and Curry is 37. They’d be great immediately but bad really, really soon. The question here first and foremost is salary-matching. Jimmy Butler would almost have to go out as the matching money in the deal, and finding him a new home wouldn’t be easy. The Lakers wouldn’t want the second year on his contract extension, and teams would be wary of trading for him given how difficult he can make any situation if he’s unhappy with it. 
• 2. New York Knicks: James has been circling the Knicks for practically his entire career. He met with them directly in 2010. He’s used them as leverage in the past. But they’ve never made more sense for him than they do right now. No team could make his life easier on offense with Jalen Brunson and an elite shooting big man in Karl-Anthony Towns in place. OG Anunoby would ensure that he never has to guard the toughest assignments defensively ever again. The trio of Mikal Bridges, Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart all make some measure of sense as longer-term Dončić teammates, and they make more than enough to serve as matching salary here. The Knicks would be incredibly thin, but they’d have arguably the best starting five in the NBA in a weak Eastern Conference. Getting James would give them their best chance at a championship in more than 50 years.

Tier 1: He’s Coming Home

• 1. Cleveland Cavaliers: You were expecting someone else? All roads seemingly lead back to Cleveland. If James wants to leave Los Angeles, odds are, he’d be most comfortable doing so for another homecoming. The Cavaliers are a 64-win team that’s well above the second apron. They’re ready to win right now. They’ve only ever done so at the highest level with James. But a deal would be immensely complicated. The Cavaliers would have to aggregate salaries to acquire James. Doing so would mean hard-capping themselves at the second apron. Cleveland would have to shed around $20 million in salary just to do so legally. Darius Garland would have to be in the trade for cap purposes alone, and so would other valuable players. It’s not even clear if Cleveland would want to take a swing like this. But pretty much every great moment in Cavaliers history is tied to James in some way. Put him, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley on a team together in the weakest Eastern Conference in recent memory and they’re probably storming to the Finals. I’ve explored the specifics of a James-to-Cleveland deal in much more depth here. The short explanation is: it’s doable. It would be costly and require sacrifices on all sides, but if the parties want it to happen, it could.