Lakers Trade Prediction Sends $90 Million Power Forward to L.A. for Draft Picks

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LeBron James (r) and Cam Johnson (l).

The resurgent Los Angeles Lakers have climbed back into the NBA Western Conference playoff picture, and out of the play-in bracket, winning four of their last six games including a nail-biting Christmas Day win over the Golden State Warriors. At 17-13, the LeBron James-led squad now sits sixth in the West, just two games behind the Dallas Mavericks for a top-four spot that would bring home court advantage in at least one playoff series.

With more than a third of the season in the books and the team’s prospects looking brighter, the Lakers’ front office is reportedly now in the mood to sacrifice some of the franchise’s future to get into a better position to win now — especially with the 40-year-old (as of December 30) James musing openly about retirement in a postgame interview after his team’s Christmas victory.

Lakers Must Maximize LeBron James’ Value Before He Retires

“I saw a clip from (Stephen Curry’s) interview the other day, and he was just saying, it’s okay to think about retirement, you know,” James told ESPN’s Lisa Salters. “It’s going to make you appreciate the present. For us, we don’t know how many times we’re going to be able to have this matchup. We don’t know how many times we’re going to be able to step on the floor.”

The Lakers possess fully tradeable first round draft picks in 2029, 2030 and 2031, by which time James will certainly be retired. He will turn 45 during the 2029 season. With the Lakers very possibly out of contention in the immediate post-James era, those draft picks would be considered expendable, and worth giving up to improve the team in James’s final seasons — as well as what could be the end of Anthony Davis’s Lakers tenure as well.

Currently age 31, Davis can opt out of his three-year, $175.4 million Lakers contract prior to the 2027-2028 season, and would become an unrestricted free agent after that season if he chooses to stay with the Lakers as they chase an elusive 18th NBA championship banner (including five won between 1949 and 1954 when the team was located in Minneapolis).

Trading Draft Picks to Nets for Two Players Considered

Bearing in mind that the Lakers would be open including one or even all of those future first-rounders in a trade, Forbes Online NBA contributor Evan Sidery predicted on Thursday that the Lakers could target a package of players from the Brooklyn Nets, headed by the team’s second-leading scorer (19.5 points per game) Cam Johnson.

Johnson was a 2019 first-round draft pick, 11th overall, selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who dealt him just two weeks later to the Phoenix Suns. Then at the 2023 trade deadline, the Suns sent him to the Brooklyn Nets in a four-team package deal that brought future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant to Phoenix.

Sidery also said that the Lakers would be interested in forward Dorian Finney-Smith who was also acquired by the Nets at the 2023 trade deadline in the deal that shipped seven-time All Star guard Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks.

Lakers Would Need to Include Players in the Draft-Pick Deal

“As it relates to the Lakers being willing to include first-round picks in a trade, keep an eye on the Nets,” Sidery wrote in his X (formerly Twitter) account. “Los Angeles has registered interest in Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Salaries can be matched by including D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Jalen Hood-Schifino.”

Johnson remains on a four-year contract with the Nets, with $90 million guaranteed. His cap hit this season is about $24.5 millon. Finney-Smith is in the third year of a four-year, $55.56 million deal he signed with the Mavericks prior to the trade. He owns a player option for next season, so his contract could be considered to be expiring, providing the Lakers another incentive to acquire Finney-Smith as part of a package including future first-round draft picks. His cap hit is a more modest $14.5 million.