{"id":148625,"date":"2025-07-03T11:28:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T15:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=148625"},"modified":"2025-07-03T11:28:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T15:28:30","slug":"knicks-hard-stance-lebron-james-trade-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/03\/knicks-hard-stance-lebron-james-trade-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Take Hard Stance In LeBron James Trade Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past week, there\u2019s been a creeping suspicion that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>\u2019s time with the Los Angeles Lakers is truly nearing its end. Of course, many expect the 40-year-old to retire after next season, which is also the last one on his contract. Yet, the whispers on the wind aren\u2019t just about <em>that<\/em>, with myriad factors contributing to him being at a crossroads.<\/p>\n<p>So far as James\u2019s impending retirement goes, there\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/31\/should-lebron-james-retire-with-cavs-or-lakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">always the lure of returning home<\/a> to Cleveland. Aside from the retirement talk, there\u2019s speculation that he hasn\u2019t been ecstatic about the franchise now basing their decisions around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a>. A four-time NBA champion, he could also be trying to determine what team gives him the best chance of winning another ring before he retires.<\/p>\n<h2>LeBron James Trade Debate Rages On<\/h2>\n<p>James has now been <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/30\/buzz-mavs-could-land-lebron-james-surprise-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">linked to four teams<\/a> should he leave the Lakers this offseason: the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks. Of those teams, only the Warriors have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/18\/nba-rich-paul-motive-nixing-lebron-james-warriors-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">shown sincere interest<\/a> in trading for the 21-time All-Star (and that was before they acquired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/butleji01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Butler<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The Cavs \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/nba\/news\/after-slow-start-to-free-agency-where-do-lakers-lebron-james-go-from-here\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">are not that interested<\/a>,\u201d per Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. The Mavericks are only willing to add James \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/H-XPzktgKPs\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in a buyout situation<\/a>,\u201d per ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin. Even the Knicks have said \u201cno,\u201d per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">For the LeBron-to-Knicks speculation, I checked on it and the answer was, \u201cNo. Makes for good chatter but no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SbondyNBA\/status\/1940763517193539938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>So where does that leave James, arguably the greatest player of all-time?<\/p>\n<p>On the one hand, the rumors about any or all of those teams having lukewarm interest in a player of his caliber could just be gamesmanship on the part of front office executives. After all, the Houston Rockets played it cool about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a> all last season, citing concerns about his age and salary. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/22\/rockets-complete-kevin-durant-trade-suns\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Then they traded for him<\/a> before the 2025 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Who\u2019s to say the Mavs, Cavs, or Knicks aren\u2019t taking the same approach? It\u2019s particularly possible as each of these teams, including the Warriors, are in win-now mode. To that point, James is nothing if not a win-now player.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, because of James\u2019s age and salary, there really are inherent complications with trading for him. It\u2019s not impossible in that sense then, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/01\/desperate-bucks-damian-lillard-myles-turner\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">crazier things have happened<\/a>. It\u2019s simply complex and possibly improbable.<\/p>\n<h3>The Bottom Line<\/h3>\n<p>If James does just want to play one more season with the team of his choosing, a buyout would be best.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_148636\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148636\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-148636\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/IMG_7269-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/IMG_7269-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/IMG_7269-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/IMG_7269-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/IMG_7269-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/IMG_7269-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/IMG_7269-600x400.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/IMG_7269-1200x800.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-148636\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dec 31, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) shoots against Cleveland Cavaliers Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Honestly, the Lakers have appreciated him so much they might just waive him and let him keep his salary. His pride may prevent him from signing a minimum contract no matter how much L.A. lets him keep. However, when he hangs it up, nobody will be talking about how much he made in his final season. They\u2019ll be discussing whether he won it all or not and at what cost.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past week, there\u2019s been a creeping suspicion that LeBron James\u2019s time with the Los Angeles Lakers is truly nearing its end. Of course, many expect the 40-year-old to retire after next season, which is also the last one on his contract. Yet, the whispers on the wind aren\u2019t just about that, with myriad [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":148635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,9,30,2,25,31,62,12,3,4721],"tags":[69,38,4774],"class_list":["post-148625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-mavericks","category-featured","category-warriors","category-rockets","category-nba","category-knicks","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-kevin-durant","tag-lebron-james","tag-rumors"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148625"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148637,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148625\/revisions\/148637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}