With the NBA regular season coming to an end and the Lakers looking like a team that won’t go far in the playoffs, Undisputed host Paul Pierce decided to shake up social media and suggest a trade. Pierce says the Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers should consider a LeBron James for Donovan Michell trade if they lose in the play-in or the first round.
“If (the Lakers) flame out and lose in the play-in, I would consider — if I was LeBron (James) — being traded back to Cleveland for Donovan Mitchell. … Bronny gets picked up by (the Cavs) and Brown has his farewell tour with his son in his last year. But it all depends on what the Lakers do this year.”
LeBron James For Donovan Mitchell Trade To Get Bronny To Cleveland With Pop?
It’s a fairy tale scenario if you think about it. With Bronny declaring for the draft despite all of the experts claiming he might not even be (or shouldn’t be) drafted, any commentary adverse to that opinion gets fans emotional.
Donovan Mitchell’s attitude toward the franchise and bum knee seem to have Cleveland brass and fans a bit frustrated because it requires so much management and they are two games behind the Bucks in the division, still jostling for a top-four playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
“Donovan doesn’t want to be there,” Pierce said, “because we are not seeing signs of him wanting to re-sign.”
The podcast game is about hot takes, playing GM and rewriting history from your own personal perspective. When it comes to saying things that either make people scratch their heads, throw their phones, or burst out in laughter, Pierce is up there, akin to Gilbert Arenas.
We know that Pierce doesn’t fear saying anything that might garner him public backlash. And he’s never going to stop his fans from getting an honest and raw look into his life, having already proved that when he lost his basketball analyst gig because he shamelessly was on social media with strippers and the best sinsemilla while contracted by Disney.
Some Cleveland fans who have become unenamored with Mitchell and the Cavs’ inability to elevate like the sound of LeBron back home.
Podcasts and prime time morning sports shows have become a way for former players to manipulate past narratives, flex their insight as pros and also play general manager for ratings.
This Has Nothing To Do With Basketball
Maybe both teams need a change, but it’s not for basketball reasons. Pierce is romanticizing about the best case scenario for LeBron to accomplish his final basketball goal of playing with his son. We all know The King has long given up on winning another championship or catching Kobe and Jordan in rings.
He is content with his legacy and also using his current NBA influence to springboard his son into a situation where they will play together.
“My last year will be played with my son,” James told the Athletic in 2022. “Wherever Bronny is at, that’s where I’ll be. I would do whatever it takes to play with my son for one year. It’s not about the money at that point.”
With all that’s about to go down in what will be one of the greatest NBA playoffs in history, nobody wants to hear Pierce sacrifice Donovan Mitchell to the Lakers — a bottom-rung playoff team even with LeBron — so that Bronny can (undeservedly) get drafted and we can all bask in the glory of another accomplishment for LeBron James.
It’s great for the NBA and the marketing and promotion will be lucrative for the league. It’s also the best way for LeBron to cap his legacy and do something else that Jordan and the other Mount Rushmore candidates have never done.
If Bron does intend to pull this off, it most likely won’t be with the Lakers, who have been held captive by King James for years and probably want to start with Anthony Davis and a clean slate, rather than take on the baggage and pressure of bringing in Bronny.
As podcasts of this nature often go, Paul presented a situation that is unlikely to happen, but the audacity of the opinion is compelling and engaging.
Don’t Count Out LeBron James: Bronny Will Play In NBA
We have all learned to never count out LeBron James, and he is always masterminding something for the future. He’s already told us that Bronny will be playing with him, so he’s going to everything he can to make that happen.
Maybe Spida Mitchell would like to play with Anthony Davis. With both players healthy that’s a formidable duo. But both of them are aging veterans with knee issues so the Lakers would be setting themselves up for a load management debacle and probably another fight for the play-in game so that trade is a pipe dream.
While fans continue to dismiss Bronny James, the league is working behind the scenes and on podcasts, to make this piece of history come true — and there might be sacrificial lambs or Spida’s in the process.
