We are less than 48 hours away from the NBA trade deadline, and stars are moving across the league, with more rumored to be dealt in the next two days.
After the Los Angeles Clippers traded James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers, there’s another double-digit All-Star in Hollywood that fans and pundits have been discussing whether he will be leaving Southern California by the weekend.
Multiple reports have said this will be LeBron James‘ final season with the Los Angeles Lakers. Either the legend will hang up his jersey and retire, or he will have a farewell tour with another series, possibly with the aforementioned Cavaliers.
On Tuesday night, though, news broke that has apparently settled the question of whether James would waive his no-trade clause to move before Thursday’s transaction window closes.
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ESPN’s Dave McMenamin has stated that, through league sources, James will not be asking to be traded to a new franchise and is set to finish the season with the Lakers before assessing his plans this summer.
It has been a tumultuous first half of a season for James, who was injured to start the year and then returned to a team that began falling apart health-wise when he was ready to ramp up.
Each week, there’s been more drama and news about James’ future, including a lengthy ESPN exposé about how the previous Lakers ownership had toyed with the idea of not re-signing James. Their opinion of the superstar had been declining year by year, and they were upset that they felt pressured to draft his son, Bronny James, to appease him.
Both Jameses are still on the Lakers’ roster, and with the new update, both will be sticking in the purple and gold for at least the next few months.
Although it is difficult to see a contending team offering James a contract near his $50 million salary cap hit, he has been linked to a possible move back home to Cleveland or a move to the Golden State Warriors in an Avengers-like team-up with decade-long rival Steph Curry.