The ascension of Luka Doncic has put the Mavericks in a very interesting situation. With Doncic, they know they have a star they can build a proper team around. But, with Doncic, it also pressures Dallas to achieve good results and avoid failure.

This season, we saw that desperation in full effect when the team traded for Kyrie Irving at the deadline… but did you know they almost traded for King Jame instead? According to Chris Haynes, the Mavs were building a trade package for LeBron until they realized he was ineligible to be traded.

“The Mavericks were preparing to make an offer for James last season when the Lakers were spiraling, sources say, despite James being ineligible for a trade last season due to the date of his extension,” reported Chris Haynes on Monday. “But the Lakers made a string of trades near the deadline that changed the trajectory of their season.”

Obviously, the Mavericks couldn’t get anything done for LeBron during the season and they settled for Uncle Drew instead. But one has to wonder what the Mavs are thinking now about a potential LeBron trade given how the season ended with Kyrie and Luke.

Mavericks Unlikely To Land LeBron

Sadly for Doncic, his team may already be too late on getting LeBron. They gave up practically everything to get Irving on the team, and there’s nothing left for Dallas to offer the Lakers in a trade for one of, arguably, the greatest players of All-Time.

“Given the hurdles that Dallas would have to clear in order to make this happen, it seems unlikely for now that LeBron ends up on the Mavericks with Irving and Doncic,” CBS Sports’ Jasmyn Wimbish wrote. “But with Irving hitting the open market this summer as a free agent, the possibility of them playing together again could be in the cards, though them teaming up in Dallas would be far more difficult to pull off.”

It’s not impossible for the Mavs to bring Irving and James together again, but that time may already have passed. Frankly, Dallas is probably better off not going after LeBron anyway considering he’s almost 40 years old and does not fit Luka’s timeline. Nevertheless, the rumors will persist until Kyrie finally makes up his mind.