Los Angeles Lakers: Let’s slow down on the LeBron to New Orleans talk

The Los Angeles Lakers landing the fourth overall pick has seemingly opened the door for a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, leading to some outrageous takes.

The Los Angeles Lakers were one of the biggest winners of the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery. Despite entering the lottery with the 11th worst record in the league, the Lakers jumped all the way to the fourth overall pick in the draft.

While there is a significant drop off from the top three players in the draft and the rest of the class, this is still a massive win for the Lakers. The front office suddenly has a valuable trade asset at their disposal despite the team practically messing up the tank at the end of the year.

But hey, as this draft proved, tanking will not be as beneficial as it was before and maybe the better alternative is to get wins under your belt.

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The obvious storyline heading out of the draft lottery is how the Lakers are going to leverage this pick in a trade. The most likely outcome, at least as far as Laker fans are concerned, is including the pick in the package for Anthony Davis this summer.

However, a different trade idea with the New Orleans Pelicans has since emerged: trading LeBron James and the fourth overall pick to New Orleans in exchange for the first overall pick.

Now, there are some qualifiers that make this somewhat realistic, which is what has given it enough steam for it to circulate as a legitimate possibility.

First of all, Zion Williamson could theoretically leverage himself to not go to New Orleans. If Williamson would rather play in a big market town, such as New York or LA, he could threaten to go back to Duke for one more year and re-enter the draft next year.

That obviously puts the New York Knicks in the equation but the Knicks do not have an asset like LeBron, which brings this to the second reason why this is compelling: it could be the Pelicans way to convince Anthony Davis to stay long term while contending this year.

It sounds like it makes a lot of sense and most Laker fans might actually not mind this as Williamson is a generational talent at the beginning of his career, not the end.

It is that end part that is really going to keep this from happening. There is no way the Pelicans pass on a generational superstar in order to get James, who is leaving his prime, with the hopes of getting Davis to re-sign.

There are far too many variables in the equation. Compare that to Zion, who appears to be as big of a sure-thing as a prospect can be, and it is clear that this would be a short-sited move.

Williamson could play his cards and could leverage himself out of New Orleans, I am not denying that of being a possibility. However, the Pelicans would be much better off getting the third overall pick for New York and future picks alongside the future picks that will come with Anthony Davis in a different trade.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers are still in win-now mode, and while it probably would be better in the long-term to have Zion Williamson, LeBron James is the key to contending in 2019.