NBA Star Power Index: LeBron James doesn’t say anything by accident; can Kyrie Irving carry Nets without KD?

Welcome back to NBA Star Power Index: A weekly gauge of the players getting the most buzz around the league. Inclusion on this list isn’t necessarily a good thing — it simply means you’re capturing the NBA world’s attention. This is also not a ranking. The players listed are in no particular order. This column will run every week throughout the regular season. 

LeBron James pretty clearly wants the Lakers to make a trade to up their chances of realistically competing for a championship this season. In an interview with The Athletic, James spoke about L.A.’s reluctance to pull the trigger on a deal that could cost them one of or both their 2027 and 2029 first-round draft picks. 

“Y’all know what the f— should be happening,” James said. “I don’t need to talk.”

Read the full interview with Sam Amick here. LeBron is short with his answers. He’s playing the good solider with a clear wink. He tried to walk back this comment of clear frustration, but he doesn’t say anything by accident. He’s as calculated as they come. He wanted that out there. It’s not the first time LeBron has taken to the media to put pressure on this Lakers front office to show some urgency and make a move while he is still playing at a championship level, first when he drew a hilariously unveiled line between his situation and that of Aaron Rodgers with the Packers. 

From our Jack Maloney:

During a special episode of “The Shop” in November, James lamented the lack of talent around Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, another aging superstar. “When you’ve got a transcendent, franchise player like Aaron Rodgers… Why wouldn’t you surround that, when you’ve got the picks, to maximize what he can do?” James said. 

In late December, after a five-game losing streak, he questioned how long he could keep playing in such a situation. “I’m a winner and I want to win. I want to win and give myself a chance to win, and still compete for championships,” James said. “Playing basketball at this level just to be playing basketball is not in my DNA. It’s not in my DNA anymore. We’ll see what happens and see how fresh my mind stays over the next couple years.”

The Lakers are holding it together. They’ve won five of their last six and are, amazingly, just one game back in the loss column from the No. 6 seed. LeBron has a right to be frustrated. When Anthony Davis gets back, if he can stay healthy (a huge if), the case can pretty easily be made that the Lakers could be in the mix of a pretty wide-open Western Conference with the right trade. Deadline time is 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 9. The clock is ticking. 

All eyes are going to be on Kyrie Irving over the next month or so as he tries to keep the good vibes rolling in Brooklyn during Kevin Durant’s absence. Irving is quietly — a word not normally associated with him — having a fantastic season, and the Nets have become the team we all envisioned, from a talent standpoint, over these last six weeks, winning 18 of their last 20 to vault into second place in the East, trailing the No. 1 Celtics by just one game in the loss column. 

Irving is coming off a 25-point first-half performance in a win over the Heat, and the Nets have reason for optimism that Irving can keep them afloat. Thus far, the Nets have maintained a plus-3.1 net rating with Irving on the court without Durant, per Cleaning the Glass. The problem will be when Irving goes to the bench as the Nets can no longer stagger superstars. With both Irving and Durant out, the Nets have been outscored by almost 15 points per 100 possessions. 

Stephen Curry’s return to the lineup after missing 11 games was the biggest NBA news heading into Tuesday night. On paper, it was all set up for the Warriors to roll and for Curry to get right back in rhythm against a Suns team playing without 80 percent of its starting lineup. Instead, the Suns dealt Golden State its third straight home loss. 

Curry was noticeably off most of the night. He got it going with 16 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter as the Warriors surged back to make what was a blowout pretty interesting late. Hopefully that momentum will carry over for Curry, because the Warriors need to crank into gear. 

We keep saying their seed doesn’t matter, but that’s only true if they get above the play-in line. If they end up sixth or fifth, sure, whatever, the Warriors can beat anyone, home or away, in a seven-game series. But no team, no matter its pedigree, wants to be in the play-in where potentially one bad game can send you home. Currently the Warriors are tied for eighth in the West at 20-21 exactly halfway through their schedule. 

Donovan Mitchell went off with 46 points in his first trip back to Utah since last summer’s trade, but Jordan Clarkson stole his thunder down the stretch as the Jazz knocked off Cleveland. Mitchell got the standard tribute video, which he surely deserved. He did great things in Utah. I was asked on air Wednesday morning “what went wrong for Mitchell and the Jazz?” In my opinion, not much. They just didn’t win a championship, same as every other Western Conference team not named the Warriors or Lakers dating back to 2015. 

If we are going to say something went wrong during Mitchell’s time in Utah, we have to talk about Rudy Gobert, who was also great during his Jazz days but was also an offensive hurdle for the Jazz to clear. We’re seeing in Minnesota how tough life can be with him in the middle of your offense. 

That’s not to blame Gobert for anything. Again, the Jazz just weren’t quite good enough during a Western Conference era that the Warriors, and to a lesser degree the James Harden/Chris Paul Rockets, held hostage. But if anything ran its course, perhaps it was Mitchell’s motivation to overcome Gobert offensively and Gobert’s motivation to cover for Mitchell defensively. 

Credit Danny Ainge for not continuing to beat Utah’s head against the wall. He didn’t wait 10 years to break this up. He did it at the optimal point of leverage, and he got massive returns for both Mitchell and Gobert. Through that lens, Mitchell’s time was actually a huge win in Utah. He became a superstar, made them a legit factor, and then brought them back the goods to start their next run. 

Nikola Jokic has registered a triple-double in his last two games, the most recent of which, a win over the Lakers, was a first in NBA history: 14 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds on 5-for-5 shooting, making Jokic the only player to ever post at least 10 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists on 100-percent shooting. 

It remains incredible how many ways Jokic can dominate a game. What other superstar and arguable leading MVP candidate do you know taking five shots in a game? Some nights Jokic looks to score. Other nights he kills you with “normal” passes like this:

How valuable is Jokic? The Nuggets are 25 points per 100 possessions worse when he goes to the bench, registering as the best offense in history when he plays and the worst in the league when he doesn’t. Bottom line: When Jokic is on the floor, Denver is pretty close to indefensible. The Nuggets get whatever shot they want. Against any defense. There is just no answer for Jokic with all the weapons he has at his disposal. 

Jimmy Butler led Miami’s historic march to the free-throw line on Tuesday, where they hit an NBA record 40 for 40. Butler hit 23 of those en route to 35 points, taking and making more freebies on his own than the Thunder did as a team. The Heat needed every one of them, too. They were without four starters, and with Dewayne Dedmon getting ejected after playing just five minutes, Miami in essence had to play the game with just seven players. 

Jayson Tatum has scored at least 25 points in 12 straight games. He had 34 against San Antonio on Saturday and 32 against Chicago on Monday. Entering play on Wednesday, Tatum is averaging 30.8 points per game, which, if maintained, would go down as the highest single-season scoring average in Celtics history. Tatum has also scored the most total points (1,202) through the first half of a season in franchise history, besting the 1,193 that John Havlicek scored through the first 41 games in 1971.