After last year’s wild trade that brought Luka Doncic to the Lakers, a lot of NBA insiders started thinking—maybe anything really can happen in this league. So, what if “anything” means the Lakers actually trading LeBron James? He has a no-trade clause, so he’d need to approve it, but there are only a handful of places he’d even consider.

One of those places? The Warriors.

The idea actually came from Bill Simmons at The Ringer. He threw out a scenario where the Lakers send LeBron north to Golden State, and Jimmy Butler goes to L.A. It sounds a little crazy, but it does sort out a couple of headaches for both teams. The Lakers get a tough, defensive-minded forward in Butler—a better fit next to Doncic at this stage than LeBron, honestly. The Warriors, on the other hand, pick up a forward who can actually keep up with Steph Curry’s style, instead of slowing things down the way Butler tends to. That’s where LeBron fits.

So, just swap them, right? Seems simple enough.

Not so fast, says Rich. Paul is LeBron’s agent. On his podcast with Max Kellerman, “Game Over,” Paul didn’t even pretend to entertain the idea. “Why don’t we just play duck-duck-goose?” he joked. He shut it down quickly: “It’s not going to happen, so why are we talking about things that aren’t going to happen?”

Technically, the trade works on paper. And you know both LeBron and Curry would love a shot to play together before they call it a career. Neither guy’s team looks like a lock for a deep playoff run this year, either.

Curry’s 37, dropping almost 29 points a night, but the Warriors are only 18-16. LeBron just turned 41 and is still putting up over 20 a game, but the Lakers are 20-11 and just lost four of their last five.

Would putting LeBron and Curry together actually work? Who knows? But it’d be fun to watch, and honestly, that’s more than either team can say about this season so far.

Still, Paul made it clear there are reasons—he didn’t really get into them, since Kellerman kept jumping in—why a Lakers-Warriors deal isn’t happening. He did admit that Butler would look good in L.A., and LeBron would fit just fine in Golden State, but then again, those guys would fit pretty much anywhere.

“You and Bill can play fantasy basketball all you want,” Paul told Kellerman. “You can do that with anyone in the league. Any team with LeBron makes basketball sense. Jimmy Butler? He plays the game right—he fits anywhere. But right now? I like him on the Warriors.”

So don’t count on anything changing.

Luke Littler admitted he hopes the Alexandra Palace crowd will support him again after easily reaching the World Darts Championship semi-finals.

Littler had no problems in his 5-0 win over Krzysztof Ratajski, securing his spot in the semi-finals for the third year running, where he will face Ryan Searle.

The 18-year-old faced some heat entering his quarterfinal match because of his comments after beating Rob Cross in the previous round. He responded to fans booing him by saying, "Am I bothered?" Really, am I bothered?! Really not bothered!

Can I just say one thing? You guys pay for the tickets, and you pay for my prize money, so thank you, thank you for my money! Thank you for booing me. Thank you—come on!

Those comments resulted in boos as Littler walked onto the field against Ratajski. However, those quickly became chants of 'There is only one Luke Littler' as he won the first set with a 170 checkout.

Littler had a 100.04 average and hit 10 maximums during his straight-sets victory. Afterwards, he said he feels ready to handle any criticism.

Of course, it is a fresh year, the first day of the year. There were a few boos, Littler said.

But as soon as I got on stage, the crowd was amazing. Beforehand, family and friends told me that whatever happens, happens.

As soon as I got on stage, I clapped for everyone so they knew I wanted them on my side again. They supported me tonight, and I won. I hope it will be the same tomorrow.

I'm growing mentally as a player. I know how to handle it, and I think the Rob Cross game tested me. But I got through it. In future matches, I'll know how to deal with it and move on.

Littler: I don't have a board to practice on

Despite winning easily, Littler said that he struggled with his throw and changed it several times.

He blames this partly on having a few days off and not having a dartboard at home to practice.

He also didn't have one last year when he won, and he's using the same approach as he aims to become the first player to win back-to-back titles at the Worlds since Gary Anderson in 2016. His next challenge is a semi-final match against Ryan Searle.

I am happy to get through. "I haven't been practising for almost three days," he said.

I tried to change my throw constantly. But most importantly, I got the job done.

I was just being lazy at home and not practising. We didn't bring our dartboard.

So, I can't really practice, but I would have liked to. Now we play every day, so I hope tomorrow will be better.

We stayed at home last year, and it worked. Last year, no board won it.

Home this year, no board—we'll see what happens!

What's next?

The World Darts Championship continues on Friday, January 2, when Luke Littler plays Ryan Searle, and Gary Anderson faces Gian van Veen for a spot in the final.