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LeBron James smiling

The Los Angeles Lakers are in an excellent position moving forward. Even if they don’t win a championship in 2025, which might seem farfetched to some, having Luka Doncic, the former Dallas Mavericks superstar, should set them up nicely for the future.

However, with LeBron James only getting older, the Lakers could look to make another blockbuster deal this summer and attempt to pair their star duo with a third player.

In a proposed trade idea from Jovan Buha of The Athletic, he had the Lakers trading for Kevin Durant.

“For the Lakers, a hypothetical trade for Kevin Durant would have to be something like Austin [Reaves], Rui [Hachimura], Dalton [Knecht], Gabe [Vincent], Maxi [Kleber], a pick, and a couple pick swaps. That’s a lot.”

“The Lakers are basically giving up everything that they could trade. For KD, you can make that case, but if you’re Phoenix, if you have an open bidding with at least multiple teams, you can get more than that,” Buha said.

Should Lakers Make This Deal?

Any team with Durant is better than without him. However, the Los Angeles Lakers have to be smart with their moves. Forming a big three comes with financial constraints, which Los Angeles doesn’t want to deal with in the short or long term.

If the plan is to go all in for a championship in the 2025-26 season, the Lakers trading for him would be wise. However, if they want to best set up their future with Doncic, holding off on this and waiting for the perfect move, even if it’s a few years out, would be the better plan.

The Phoenix Suns hold the power here, and it sounds like they’ll be trading him.

“Do the Suns want to trade Kevin Durant this summer? No, not really,”  Brian Windhorst of ESPN said. “But the reality is that the Suns’ pathways of getting out of the second apron—to ensure they have flexibility—all seem to lead to Durant.”

Durant Could Add Strange Dynamic

During the trade deadline, there were reports that the Phoenix Suns could move on from Durant. If he were to have been traded, the Lakers could’ve been a potential landing spot, but it wasn’t reported that they had interest in him.

Fast forward to this offseason, and it makes sense for the Lakers to call and see what the Suns want. If anything, Durant would be the perfect addition to continue to allow James to play at the level he is, as he’d take pressure off him offensively.

However, there are other sides to the potential addition of the 15-time All-Star.

According to Windhorst, Durant wasn’t happy that the Suns put him in trade rumors, and that’s something the Lakers have to consider. Durant has been a polarizing player in organizations, and has rubbed some the wrong way. If they don’t want to cause any issues, holding off on him might be the better plan.

“The prevailing thing from the trade deadline was what didn’t happen, which was Kevin Durant stayed put,” said Windhorst on “The Hoop Collective.”

“He was not happy he was put into trade talks. I think it’s unpredictable what will happen for the next few months because it’s the nature of the sport, but I think right now it is reasonable to forecast that Durant will be breaking up with the Suns in the summer. He didn’t break up with them today, but it doesn’t look for the long-term forecast because he was really frustrated.”