NBA Trades: What If the Cavs Would Have Traded LeBron James?

As a Cleveland Cavaliers fan I find myself looking at the Carmelo Anthony trade and wondering what if the Cavs would have traded LeBron James? How much could've the Cavs have gotten for the greatness that is called LeBron James? The idea of the Cavs trading LeBron James might have seemed like an absurd idea in 2010, but hindsight is 20-20 and I'm having plenty of hindsight here.

Why the Cleveland Cavaliers would've traded LeBron James

It is pretty simple to figure out why the Cavs didn't trade LeBron in 2010. Even though he was in the last year of his contract, the Cleveland Cavaliers were very certain that they were going to be able to keep the hometown boy playing locally. A lot of people will now say that it was obvious LeBron was going to head out of Cleveland. I mean who stays in Cleveland, right? We have an incredibly loyal fan base, but even most of us local people will admit the weather here is just plain ugly. That being said, it is home and sometimes your roots will keep your heart where it began. So the Cavs thought they could sell LeBron on the home sweet home theory and quite a few fans believed he would build his legacy by bringing the Cavaliers a few NBA Championships. LeBron let the fans believe this could very well happen and for all I know maybe he very well thought it could. I'm not going to judge how hard of a decision his move was for him, but what if it wasn't a hard decision. All it would've took for the Cavaliers to decide to explore trade option for LeBron was for him to play things out like Carmelo Anthony did. What if LeBron James made it clear to the Cleveland Cavaliers that he wasn't going to resign with them. The Cleveland Cavaliers would've been fielding calls from practically every team in the NBA and trust me they would've been more than interested in hearing the offers.

Which teams could've LeBron James been traded too?

It's pretty clear that the teams at the front of the line trying to trade for LeBron James would've been the same ones that chased after him in free agency. The top candidates would've been the Miami Heat, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls. You never know if a sleeper team would've entered the race, but there are very few that would even seem like a remote possibility. I would say the one that comes to mind first is the Los Angeles Clippers. Now, they have their own superhero in Blake Griffin, but at this time last season they were just hoping that he would become a productive big man.

What could've the Cleveland Cavaliers gotten for LeBron James?

Where LeBron James would've landed would've in large part been up to LeBron James. The superstars of the NBA just seem to have that much power. As evidenced by Carmelo Anthony and the limited number of teams that joined those trade rumors. That of course takes a bit of the fun out of it; so let's ask a better question? If the Cleveland Cavaliers would've traded LeBron James last season and he was willing to come to your team, what would've you given up? It doesn't even matter how possible it is. The key question is how much is LeBron James worth to you? After all Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups were worth a first round pick, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov. We will just say that the other two players Denver sent to New York, Renaldo Blackman and Shelden Williams cancel out the two second round draft picks that Denver received. So here is what it all boils down too? Would you trade Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups for LeBron James? As underrated as Chauncey Billups seems at times, I think there are a lot of people that would pull the trigger and take LeBron over the combination of Chauncey and Melo. In that case LeBron James would be worth a first round pick, a raw big man, a point guard that is putting up 17 points and 9 assists a night and two wingmen that combine for 32.3 points and 10.7 rebounds a game. Of course this would all be dependant on LeBron James signing with that team because that is the only reason the Knicks gave in to the Nuggets demands for Carmelo Anthony. It just makes one wonder what the offers for LeBron James would've really been if the Cavaliers would've given up on him returning to Cleveland.