Would The Cavs Really Consider Trading LeBron James If Their Struggles Continue?


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LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers may have gotten the win they needed to turn their season around. James dragged the Cavaliers to a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the New York Knicks in a game that may have given the team its swagger back after a slow struggle to open the 2017-18 season.

But not everyone is convinced the Cavaliers will improve defensively and figure things out, even when Isaiah Thomas joins the team as a healthy option at the point. The question is, then, what should the Cavaliers do with James potentially headed to free agency and the team very much in flux.

Howard Beck’s long piece for Bleacher Report Mag includes a very curious quote from an NBA executive outside of the Cavaliers organization who claims the team should be looking to trade LeBron if the Cavaliers continue to struggle.


“I think the pressure gets pretty high,” a rival team executive told Beck. “If it’s not working, they should either move the [Nets] pick or Love or LeBron. Those should all be on the table.”

LeBron James ever getting traded seems incredibly unlikely, and it’s not a stretch to think that this quote comes from someone who has a vested interest leaving Cleveland, but it is interesting that NBA executives are actually discussing that as an option for the Cavaliers. It would take a pretty desperate situation for that to be a reality, plus LeBron has a no-trade clause that that he does not plan to wave, but it would signal that the Cavaliers truly are rebuilding and not taking any risks that James walks on them without getting a piece they can build with.

Then again, this summer has taught NBA fans many times over that often the most improbable thing you’d imagine is likely in this league these days. If things go further south for the Cavs, as James once said, anything is possible.

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