LeBron James has spent the past seven seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, capturing a championship with the franchise in 2020.
However, Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh has a strong feeling that the end is near for James in Los Angeles, citing that the Lakers could swap the four-time NBA champion for a 6-foot-1 Eastern Conference All-Star.
“LeBron waives his no-trade clause and OK’s a trade to the (Cleveland) Cavs,” Haberstroh predicted Wednesday. “He’s coming home — again. It won’t be easy, but if the Cavs get off to a slow start, Darius Garland’s contract could be large enough to grease the wheels in a three- or four-team trade.”
Garland had much to do with the Cavaliers’ remarkable 64-18 campaign last year.
The slithery 6-foot-1 guard got the job done from beyond the arc, in the mid-range area, and in the paint thanks to his versatile offensive repertoire.
Garland averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 assists per game, shooting 47.2% from the field and 40.1% from three-point land. The Vanderbilt product was also a defensive stud with the top-seeded Cavaliers, recording 1.2 steals per contest.
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Unfortunately, a toe injury limited Garland to five postseason contests, negatively affecting a Cleveland squad hungry for a championship.
Still, in a potential swap, the Lakers would pair Luka Doncic with a lightning-quick perimeter-oriented stud with experience thriving as a No. 2 scoring option.
From the Cavaliers’ perspective, a franchise legend in James would return to Cleveland to end his phenomenal 20+ year NBA career in style.
More NBA: Lakers should reunite Luka Doncic with 6-foot-6 former Mavericks teammate, per writer