Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[omahen]

...which it VERY likely would need to do, given the mature, contending teams in which LeBron is likely have interest, and vice versa. I suppose there are teams who might sign up to be a third team and eat salary, but that would make it more costly on LeBron's new team (and lesson the benefit for the Lakers to facilitate the deal, probably). 

All of that to say, I view the LeBron sign and trade option as "either/or" with a big free agency splash made by the Lakers, not "in addition to." To your point, it's not impossible, but I DON'T think LeBron is going to play for the MLE. I think we're talking about a BIG sign and trade. This is just my prediction, however.

The only big SnT that would make sense from Lakers perspective is imho Allen. GSW and Miami don't really have anything of interest for LA.