The Los Angeles Lakers' offseason will partially depend on a decision made by LeBron James. 

James is an unrestricted free agent, and while retirement is a possibility, most expect him to return for a 24th NBA season. He's spent the last eight seasons in Los Angeles, his longest single tenure with any franchise, and has laid roots in the city beyond what has taken place on the court. 

There have been speedbumps in his journey with the Lakers, and LeBron may decide to go elsewhere for his final season or two as he tries to add one more ring to his finger. 

Until he makes the decision, the Lakers will have to operate under constrained circumstances with their offseason plans. 

James has most often been to the Cleveland Cavaliers, returning to the team that draft him in the state he group up in, bringing a storybook ending to his historic career. 

To get there, it would take some manuevering from the Cavaliers. 

Bleacher Report published a mock trade that would send LeBron,  Bronny James, Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia, Dalton Knecht, and a $28 million trade exception to the Cavaliers in exchange for Jarrett Allen, Dennis Schröder, Dean Wade, Sam Merrill. 

This trade would allow LeBron to return to Cleveland, and give the Lakers some significant upgrades around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, who is likely to return after he opts out of his player option and re-signs with the team. 

If LeBron wants to go to Cleveland, they don't really have a choice but to do it as they likely want to play nice with the Hall of Famer and send him to his preferred destination. And they should want to do it. 

Not only do they get the perfect center next to Doncic, but they get extra shooting and playmaking in Schroder, Wade, and Merrill. 

Jarrett Allen would be a great fit in Los Angeles as a rim protector and rim runner. He's the type of center that Doncic enhances, and Allen is already one of the better centers in the league. 

Merrill is a three-point sniper, shooting 42% from deep this past season, Wade is solid two-way rotation player, and Schroder is a proven back-up guard. 

All that might be too much for the Cavaliers to give up to get LeBron, knowing that he wants to return to Cleveland, which kills much of the Lakers' leverage. But if they could just get Allen out of the deal in exchage for Bron and Bronny, and then move Ayton and other pieces elsewhere to retool the team, they'd be in a better position than they were to start the offseason.