Los Angeles Lakers: 3 players team must trade to sign LeBron James

If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to convince LeBron James to head west in 2018, they’re going to have to move some pieces around between now and February.

It’s often said that patience pays off. In the case of the Los Angeles Lakers, it appears that their patience may actually pay serious dividends during the 2018 offseason.

A report by The Ringer‘s Kevin O’Connor suggested that LeBron James could seriously consider a move to Los Angeles when he hits free agency in 2018. While the Los Angeles Clippers are also mentioned as a potential destination, the Lakers seem like the more likely landing spot. That is, if the right pieces fall into place.

The Lakers’ pursuit of Paul George will be the first step. They appear primed to sign him next offseason, which would make the Lake Show all the more appealing to the King. That would give the Lakers two bonafide superstars to go along with their exciting group of up-and-comers. Realistically, that could be enough to return this team to relevance.

Before that can happen, though, the Lakers must move some pieces around. More specifically, they must get a number of their overpriced contracts off the books. If that doesn’t happen, the Lakers simply aren’t going to have the cap space to handle adding two max contracts to the equation.

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That means some current players will need to be dealt between now and next February’s trade deadline. With that in mind, I’ve decided to take a look at three players who must be moved if the Lakers stand a real chance of signing James and George when the 2018 offseason rolls around.