DALLAS — Mere hours after they reached 50 wins for the first time in seven seasons, the Mavericks on Thursday morning trended on Twitter.
Not, however, because of their milestone or their postseason outlook, but because they were mentioned on ESPN in the same breath as LeBron James during a conversation about James’ future playing plans.
To be clear, this was not a bombshell report linking James to Dallas. It was morning show jabber, a reaction to a promotional clip from James’ YouTube series, The Shop, in which he was asked which players he most would want to play with. (Warning: The clip contains some NSFW language.)
After emphasizing his 17-year-old son, Bronny, as his No. 1 choice, James raved about Steph Curry, then briefly mentioned Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant, Penny Hardaway and Luka Doncic.
Stop the presses! Pause the NBA season! King James is pining to be a Dallas Maverick!
It’s a flimsy storyline, if one can even call it that, but the so-called superteam Lakers’ debacle of a season is certain to spawn all manner of speculation about 37-year-old James’ NBA future.
Will it be unfair to the Mavericks, a potential distraction for the current team, if such speculation persists? Not at all, on either count.
Mavericks fans if anything should embrace it. Even dream a little. Consider it a sign of the franchise’s Doncic-fueled elevating status, increasing relevance and expanding possibilities.
Is there a chance of James becoming a Maverick, either this offseason or next? It’s at best remote, but not impossible, which in itself is something few if any of us fathomed 11 months ago.
Los Angeles at the time was entering the COVID-19-delayed season’s playoffs as the No. 7 seed, but as the reigning champion. Dallas had clawed its way to the No. 5 seed under coach 13th-year coach Rick Carlisle.
Now? The Lakers are missing the playoffs for the second time in James’ four seasons, and it will mark the third time they have failed to advance past the first round.
The Mavericks’ drought of failing to win a playoff series has stretched to a decade, but they’ll enter this year’s playoffs as one of the season’s biggest success stories — coached by ex-Lakers assistant Jason Kidd, who, had he not been hired here almost certainly would have replaced embattled Lakers coach Frank Vogel by now, no doubt with James’ blessing.
Dallas’ staff also includes one of James’ closest friends, Jared Dudley, whose departure from the Lakers last August caused James to tweet an expletive and a string of hand-on-face emojis.
Those James connections, though, weren’t cited by ESPN’s Get Up morning show Thursday as the panelists discussed James’ comments about wanting to play with Curry.
Brian Windhorst, a respected longtime NBA journalist and chronicler of all things James, is the panelist who shifted the discussion to the Mavs and Doncic. He noted that James the past three years has drafted Doncic onto his Team LeBron All-Star squad.
“That is something that you should put in your back pocket,” Windhorst said. “Don’t ever judge LeBron 100 percent on his words. Judge him on his actions. The best way you can say, ‘See how LeBron feels about people,’ is who he drafts in his All-Star draft.
“If you want to enter the fantasy realm,” he continued, “that is something that I think is more worthy of having a discussion about, as opposed to Steph. Down the line. I don’t think LeBron’s going anywhere in the short term.”
In the short term especially, a James-Mavericks union is unlikely. The Mavericks, as Mark Cuban said following the trade-deadline acquisition of Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans, will be in “luxury tax hell” starting this offseason.
James has one season left on his contract after this one, at $44.5 million. It’s difficult to imagine the Mavericks stacking $44.5 million of tradeable assets, at least any that the Lakers would want, to acquire James.
It’s also difficult, though, to fathom James at this stage of his career wanting to be part of another overhauled Lakers roster.
James to Dallas this summer? Highly doubtful. Summer of ‘23? Who knows? The man is averaging 30.3 points at age 37. Is anyone betting against him still playing at 39?
For the record, this is hardly the first time James has expressed admiration for Doncic. And it should be noted that in this case, while sitting in a barber’s chair in The Shop, James spent more time talking about Bronny and Curry before touching on others.
“Steph Curry’s the one that I want to play with, for sure, in today’s game. All-time? Scottie Pippen. Kobe. Penny Hardaway.”
James said he sees a lot of himself in those players.
“There’s some other [expletives], too,” he added. Then James’ childhood friend and The Shop producer Maverick Carter injected.
“I love Luka. Luka’s my favorite.”
James: “Luka cold. Luka a bad [expletive].”
Carter: “He’s a lot like you, too.”
James: “Yeah. Me and Luka, we ...”
He did not finish the sentence. Perhaps he’s waiting for fate, or Mavericks fans, to finish it for him.
LeBron and Luka, leading the Mavericks to the 2023-24 championship, James’ fifth overall with four different franchises, an NBA first. Put that in your back pocket.
