Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has dominated headlines this NBA offseason. After James exercised his $52.6 million player option for the 2025-26 season, his agent Rich Paul released a statement to ESPN that immediately ignited trade rumors.

Being above that second apron, the Cavaliers' ability to trade future first-round picks is frozen, they can't aggregate contracts within a trade, and are unable to include cash in any deal, either. So, for a seismic trade involving a name like LeBron, the route to Cleveland having the means to get a deal hashed out looks to be a tough one.