Lakers Agree to History-Making Trade Amid LeBron James Rumors

The Los Angeles Lakers will have a historic amount of assistance in their trade that ultimately yields Adou Thiero, the No. 36 overall pick of the 2025 draft. They also see Dorian Finney-Smith’s exit for the Houston Rockets in free agency lumped into the deal.

The Athletic’s Fred Katz first reported on rumblings of the Rockets’ trade with the Phoenix Suns for Kevin Durant and discussions about expansion.

NBA insider Jake Fischer reported on X on July 3 that the deal is “fully agreed to in principle.”

Details continue to emerge, and the deal cannot be finalized until July 6, when the NBA’s moratorium on new business lifts. Here are the presumed players and picks included based on reports:

Hawks get:

• Nickeil Alexander-Walker (via sign-&-trade w/ MIN)
• 2031 second-round pick (via HOU)
• Cash considerations (via HOU)

Lakers get:

• No. 36 pick (Adou Thiero, via BKN, MIN, & PHO)

Nets get:

• Future second-round picks (x2)

Rockets get:

• Clint Capela
• Dorian Finney-Smith
• Kevin Durant

Suns get:

• Dillon Brooks
• Jalen Green
• No. 10 pick (Khaman Maluach, via HOU)
• No. 31 pick (Rasheer Fleming via MIN)
• No. 41 pick (Koby Brea, via GSW)

Timberwolves get:

• No. 45 pick (Rocco Zikarsky, via CHI & LAL)

Warriors get:

• No. 52 pick (Alex Toohey via PHO)

The Lakers have already set the record for most teams in a trade once before.

Lakers’ Once-Historic Trade Drops to 3rd on All-Time List

“No trade is imminent, and details are being ironed out as of Wednesday night,” Katz wrote on July 2. “In a would-be seven-team trade, there is an unprecedented amount of detail. Unfortunately, while a seven-team trade would make for a thrilling topic at a cocktail party, there haven’t been many unexpected developments in these negotiations. At least in the iterations of the deal discussed so far, most of the recognizable names are from trades that have already been agreed to and reported but not yet finalized.”

The Lakers’ five-team trade that landed Russell Westbrook from the Washington Wizards during the 2021 offseason previously held the record.

That trade got off to a poor start.

The Warriors’ six-team deal sending Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks in 2024 broke that record.

“To my understanding, this was already a six-team trade as of the second round of the NBA draft,” Fischer said during a live stream on July 3, discussing the seven-teamer. “This is a league record, and it is kind of a whole puzzle that, I believe, started to be worked through by the cap wizards in the Phoenix Suns’ front office.

“What this really was was a bunch of second-round pick deals getting just hodge-podged and jumbled together, snowballed together in order to help everyone figure out tax ramifications, and avoid apron penalties, and all that stuff.”

LeBron James Not Part of Historic Trade

Fischer expects no further inclusions in the deal, but it notably comes amid persistent speculation over LeBron James’ future with the Lakers.

Fischer anticipates James remains a Laker after he exercised his $52.6 million player option.

“That’s potentially the biggest domino of the whole offseason. We don’t anticipate a LeBron trade at this juncture, as much as that statement that Rich Paul put out left open the door, clearly, for a LeBron exit from Los Angeles,” Fischer said. “There’s really, I think, a marginal chance of LeBron James being traded out of LA.”

“The salary math to find a team that is in position to aggregate contracts and match his $52 million salary is just going to be very, very difficult, and then leave enough talent behind in order for him to compete for a championship like he wants to.”