Rockets could enter LeBron James sweepstakes with Kyrie Irving trade

Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor recently shared an interesting idea: LeBron James may be waiting to make his free agency decision to see whether any of his prospective teams can land Kyrie Irving or Anthony Davis in a trade. 

Here is his full tweet: 

As O'Connor noted, the problem is that neither the Mavericks nor the Wizards appears eager to move its respective star. However, Houston has an intriguing negotiating chip that could help facilitate a deal for Irving. The Rockets have not been linked to James, but acquiring Irving could enter their name in the LeBron sweepstakes. 

Houston can land Kyrie Irving 

The Houston Rockets own the rights to swap first-round picks with Dallas in 2029. Admittedly, that trade chip is not everything, but it carries more value to the Mavericks than a typical future first-round pick. 

Pairing that 2029 swap with Fred VanVleet's expiring contract would likely form the foundation of any deal. From there, the two sides would almost certainly disagree on what additional assets should be included. 

Houston would probably prefer to match salaries and call it a day. Irving is 34 years old and coming off a major injury. When healthy, he relied heavily on his quickness to beat defenders off the dribble. If age or the injury limits that burst, he will be a different player. 

Dallas, meanwhile, would likely push for a player such as Reed Sheppard along with additional draft compensation. The Mavericks could point to Irving's two seasons before the injury, when he averaged 25.2 points per game while nearly posting 50/40/90 shooting splits. Even if he has lost a step, he would still provide a significant boost to Houston's roster. 

Both perspectives are valid, and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. The biggest sticking point would likely be Sheppard. The 2024 No. 3 overall pick is 12 years younger than Irving and showed meaningful improvement between his rookie and sophomore seasons. 

The Rockets may not want to give up on a young player they invested so heavily in, but Dallas may be unwilling to seriously entertain trading Irving without Sheppard included. 

How much would Irving impact LeBron's decision? 

For Houston's front office to make an informed decision, they would have to answer a question: Would landing Kyrie Irving make the Rockets legitimate contenders to sign LeBron James? If the answer is yes, including Reed Sheppard becomes much easier to justify. If James has already crossed Houston off his list, however, Sheppard would probably be untouchable. 

If the Rockets included Sheppard in the deal, their rotation could look something like this: Kyrie Irving, Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun, Marcus Smart, Tari Eason, Bogdan Bogdanović, and Steven Adams. 

If healthy, that group would be capable of competing for a championship. If Houston somehow followed that move by signing LeBron James, they would immediately become one of the Western Conference's premier title contenders. 

Again, there have been no rumors connecting Houston to either Irving or James. Still, if O'Connor's inside information has any merit, the possibility of acquiring Irving to improve Houston's chances of signing James has to be worth discussing. For what it's worth, both James and Irving would look pretty good wearing the Rockets' "ketchup and mustard" uniforms.

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