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Will The Lakers Trade LeBron James For Ben Simmons

Last year’s offseason started with a bang, as the LeBron era in Cleveland had come to an end after James signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. The balance of power in the East shifted due to the trade, as the Cleveland Cavaliers went from being a contender to becoming a lottery team. And in the West, so people thought, the Lakers had become contenders.

While the East did indeed change, the Lakers weren’t able to improve; for a number of reasons, and this could already mean the end for LeBron’s time in the city of angels.

According to various reports, the Los Angeles Lakers are exploring a trade that would send LeBron James to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Ben Simmons.

The Sixers already were a dark horse candidate to sign James during his free agency last year, and may now try once more, to get his talents over to the city of brotherly love. The Sixers could look to trade Ben Simmons given his inability to shoot and to space the floor around Joel Embiid. Playing in Philadelphia would give James a better opportunity to compete for championships as well, so both sides may end up winning:

Per Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports:

“Fair or not, Simmons failing to add some semblance of a jump shot in Year 2 of his career is seen as a reason that Philadelphia has to put him on the trade block. Perhaps this is just wishful thinking by rival executives. There has been no indication from the Philly side that Simmons is being floated or will be this summer.

It’s early in that process. Leonard’s shot just fell through the net. But one Western Conference executive brought up a name that could be a Simmons trade target: LeBron James.

‘I think they very well might explore that,’ said a rival executive of Philadelphia.

James doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but he shares the same Klutch Sports agent with Ben Simmons in Rich Paul. James has two seasons left on his deal before he can become a free agent. After a disastrous offseason in which their president of basketball operations abruptly resigned and they struck out on their top two head coaching targets in Monty Williams and Tyronn Lue, do the Los Angeles Lakers honestly believe they can put together a championship contender in the next two seasons?

If the answer is no, trading James has to be on the table. And if you’re going to do that, there’s a short list of players that would be worthy of being traded for the King. Simmons is certainly good enough to be on it.” 

In my opinion the trade would make perfect sense. The Sixers would be an ultimate contender and the Lakers would receive a young piece to build the roster around for years to come. Also Simmons would fit perfectly and join Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo (I know he woudn’t be there any longer if the trade were to happen) as the third point guard who isn’t able to shoot.