The Sacramento Kings have gotten off to a rocky start to the 2024-25 NBA season, beginning with a 12-13 record through 25 contests and currently possessing the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference.
Though the season as a whole has not been kind to Sacramento after acquiring six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan in the offseason, the team has appeared to hit their stride after scoring 140-plus points in back-to-back victories against the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz.
While those two opponents aren’t necessarily the most talented that the conference has to offer, their latest string of dominant performances may have given the franchise’s front office some motivation to swing for the fences in the trade market.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ future Hall-of-Famer and four-time NBA champion LeBron James has enjoyed a remarkably productive twenty-second campaign in 2024-25.
The 39-year-old has contributed 23.0 points, 9.1 assists and 8.0 rebounds on a solid 58.5% true shooting percentage for a Laker team sitting just two spots ahead of Sacramento as the No. 8 seed in the West.
Seeing as though Sacramento’s high-powered offense has started to come alive while James’ Lakers look to be primed for a Play-In Tournament appearance come season’s end, an anonymous NBA executive has reportedly suggested Sacramento as a possible suitor to acquire James via trade, as shared by Bleacher Report’s Mike Chiari on Thursday.
“The one place that I don’t hear a lot of talk about with LeBron is Sacramento,” the anonymous exec shared with Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett.
“He could change them, and they might have the kind assets to make a trade work. They have a lot of young talent, and because they’re a small market, they haven’t spent like drunken sailors. They have some draft picks a young talent.”
While Los Angeles would understandably be hesitant to ship one of the game’s greatest players to an in-state rival, the potential haul of young talent and draft capital in return could be enough to convince the Lakers’ general manager Rob Pelinka to pull the trigger and start fresh.
For Sacramento, pairing James with the offensively gifted superstar duo of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis could be the perfect situation for James to compete for a fifth championship in the twilight of his career.
In order to complete a deal, Los Angeles would likely request forward Keegan Murray along with guards Keon Ellis and Devin Carter paired with an incredible amount of first-round draft compensation.
More NBA: Knicks’ unlikely trade proposal to Mavs would bring in more reliable center
