Miami Heat among betting favorites to land LeBron James via trade

With controversy swirling around the Los Angeles Lakers, there may be a groundswell of support to trade LeBron James. Might the Miami Heat be a target?

Everything that could go wrong for the Los Angeles Lakers the last couple months has gone wrong. With Magic Johnson abruptly abdicating his role as team president, a power vacuum appearing and seemingly being filled by Kurt Rambis and his wife Linda, and an inability to even give their head coaching job away to a capable candidate, there are rumors that the Lakers may look to trade LeBron James. Could the Miami Heat get involved in the deal?

According to a report from Stephen A. Smith, some in team owner Jeanie Buss’s inner circle have urged her to trade LeBron, and as a result a betting market quickly formed.

As you’d imagine, even with the rumors, the Lakers are a heavy favorite to keep LeBron James simply by not trading him. Behind the Lakers come the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers, both teams who have massive amounts of cap space which would simplify any such trade.

Trailing the top three by a decent margin comes the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat, the first two teams LeBron played for.

Such a deal would be tricky for the Heat, although clearly worth it virtually regardless the cost. For better or worse, the Miami Heat have an expensive roster with a number of overpaid contracts which would make salary matching a breeze in a multitude of combinations, but they also have a dearth of low-cost, high-value assets with which to sweeten a deal.

That’s a problem because you’re probably not going to pull off a deal for LeBron James with a package of Dion Waiters, James Johnson and Kelly Olynyk with a couple unprotected first round picks, no matter how easily it works in ESPN’s trade machine.

Of course, a betting market’s existence means very little in the real world. It simply means that a sports book knows that people will want to wager on an event (the less likely the more appealing, sometimes), and an event like the trading of LeBron James will certainly have betting interest.

Given LeBron’s willingness to return to an old team, you simply have to include the Cavs and Miami Heat in the wagering options.

If the Heat did swing for the fences and acquire LeBron, however, the next interesting question is how the world around him in South Beach would change. Would Dwyane Wade come back for one more One Last Dance? Would Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside be more likely to opt out of their contracts (just think, the Heat could add LeBron James AND miraculously come up with a max slot this summer)?

Probably won’t happen, but imagine if it did.