LeBron James is staying put with the Los Angeles Lakers, at least for the rest of this season. But in the final hours of the NBA's trade deadline, there was a push from the Golden State Warriors to see if they could pry the generational superstar out of LA, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.
Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey also snuck a call in there, and another to the Phoenix Suns about Kevin Durant. Neither went anywhere, however.
From Wojnarowski's and Shelburne's piece on ESPN.com detailing the Warriors' approach for James and Morey's reported attempt to angle in:
[Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr.] was the second team executive call to [LAers GM Rob Pelinka] on a possible James trade, sources said. After seeing James' cryptic social media post of an hourglass a week before the trade deadline, Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey called Pelinka to probe on a James trade and was immediately told that James wasn't available. In fact, Pelinka responded by asking Morey if Joel Embiid was available, sources said. And that ended that brief conversation. These sorts of bold trade calls are historically a common practice for Morey, who also called the Phoenix Suns and asked about the availability of Durant, only to be told Durant was not available, sources said. [ESPN]Hey, nothing wrong with checking, I suppose.
Morey did go on to net Buddy Hield, Cam Payne, and some added draft capital at the deadline, and brought Kyle Lowry in through the buyout market too, but did so at the cost of Marcus Morris Sr., Furkan Korkmaz, Danuel House, a few more second-rounders, and fan-favorite Patrick Beverley, and all under the high uncertainty of Joel Embiid's current meniscus injury.
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It was an odd deadline for the Sixers, and in the moment, not exactly a popular one.
Things have cooled down a bit in the few days since though, and the Sixers have won back-to-back games entering Wednesday night against the Heat.
And maybe this reported call at least keeps Philadelphia on James' radar entering the summer, as he will be eligible for free agency should he choose to waive his player option with LA for the 2024-25 season.
Brand staying put
Sixers GM Elton Brand has fallen back into a more publicly understated role since Morey came along in 2020, but appears to be more than content with that.
Despite an opening with the Charlotte Hornets for a head of basketball ops and Brand being listed as an expected leading candidate for it, per Wojnarowski, the 44-year old exec and former player doesn't intend to pursue the opportunity, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey. He's staying put in Philly.
Brand jumped right into player development with the Sixers after his retirement in 2016, and rose through the front-office ranks up to his GM promotion in 2018, following the infamous rollercoaster that was the Bryan Colangelo burner account saga.
He kept the Sixers competitive during his time at the top of the Sixers' front office, but made some notable mistakes too – Tobias Harris' contract, bringing in Al Horford, re-signing Ben Simmons, and shipping out Jimmy Butler – with effects that have lingered over the team to this day.
The organization, however, still thinks highly of him.
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