Report: LeBron James Working Behind Scenes to Make Trade Work With Suns

Since Kyrie Irving‘s trade request from the Cleveland Cavaliers hit the news cycle, the Phoenix Suns have been a team consistently considered to be in one of the best positions to land the disgruntled star. While current Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe seems to be an available trade partner, the Suns recently expressed their intent on keeping their 2017 first-round draft pick, Josh Jackson, out of any potential trades.

According to ESPN‘s Pablo Torre, however, LeBron James is now inserting himself into the negotiations, contacting former long-time teammate and newly signed vice president of basketball operations for the Suns, James Jones, to see if there is anyway to get Jackson in the Wine & Gold.

“LeBron James is doing some LeBron James offseason work. And my understanding is it’s not just Derrick Rose, it’s not just Eric Bledsoe. LeBron James happens to know a guy named James Jones,” Torre said. “LeBron James is hustling behind the scenes, is my understanding, asking ‘Is Josh Jackson available for Kyrie Irving?’ And the answer back that I heard is ‘no, he is not.’ But LeBron James is hustling on behalf of the Cleveland Cavaliers.”

Jones and James played together for years and the two are known to be incredibly close. While their friendship alone will certainly not convince Jones to help ship Jackson to Cleveland as a favor for James, it does leave a glimmer of hope that the talented young prospect could be suiting up next to James come next season.

Perhaps more importantly, still, is the mere fact that James is continuing to do extracurricular work for the Cavs in the offseason. While there have been reports this summer of James not actively recruiting players to Cleveland, and even more reports that he already has one foot out the door on his way to another team following the upcoming season, this report strengthens James’ commitment to winning in Cleveland.