Jason Whitlock: 'Luka Doncic doesn't want LeBron back'

After being out for approximately the last month due to sciatica, LeBron James may be just starting to near a return for the Los Angeles Lakers. On Thursday, he was reportedly cleared to begin contact basketball activities, and while he won't be with the team on the five-game road trip that starts on Saturday, perhaps he could return as soon as Tuesday, Nov. 18, when it returns home to face the Utah Jazz.

With Luka Doncic putting up humongous numbers and Austin Reaves poised to take yet another step forward with his production, there is a growing feeling that James will need to take a significant backseat offensively once he returns. He was rendered the Lakers' second option on offense last season after Doncic arrived in that tectonic February trade, but some believe he needs to throttle back to being the third option this season.

Commentator Jason Whitlock, one of the media's biggest critics of James, made a very provocative claim recently on the "Fearless with Jason Whitlock" podcast. It started with guest Paul Burkhardt claiming that James doesn't actually have sciatica and that it is merely a ploy.

“I am not certain that LeBron will ever return to the Los Angeles Lakers and wear their jersey," Burkhardt said. "... I think they are working behind the scenes to get him out. ... If you inject him and his toxicity, everything that comes with him into this 7-2 start, and they’re humming right now, there is not a positive outcome to this. One, he’s not gonna take a backseat to any player. … If he comes back, they worsen overnight.

“... There is no sciatica injury. This was all his plan to sit back and monitor the team and everything, and I think he wanted to be ingratiated back because they would fail and then he would come be the savior. The complete opposite has happened”

Whitlock then claimed that Doncic doesn't want James to return to game action.

“What you're describing could be the most embarrassing ending for a superstar athlete. … You're talking about LeBron James just sitting out his last year, and no one wanting him or thinking he’s worth the hassle or worth the money. … Luka Doncic doesn't want LeBron back. That could be part of the problem as well.”

As Burkhardt mentioned, L.A. has been playing well without the four-time MVP. It has the second-best record in the Western Conference and has won five games in a row, and it has been finding ways to win close games. It leads the NBA with a 52% field-goal accuracy and is sixth in offensive rating despite shooting poorly from 3-point range and ranking second-to-last in fast-break points per game.

For the last four months, there has been persistent speculation that James is unhappy with the Lakers' shift away from him and toward Doncic and that he wants to be traded, even though there has been no evidence of it. According to one source, such talk has come from other teams hoping to trade for him and not him or his camp.

Even if James does end up asking to be traded prior to the February deadline, trading him would be extremely complicated. For one thing, his contract pays him $52.6 million this season, and it is an open question whether any team would be willing to match that salary in outgoing players for what could be a half-season rental of him, since he's in the last year of his contract.

In addition, James has an extremely rare no-trade clause, which allows him to veto a potential trade if he feels the team he would be sent to wouldn't be good enough to compete for the NBA championship right away.

In all likelihood, he will finish this season as a member of the Lakers. But, as has always been the case with him, no one can be fully certain what to expect from him in the coming months.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Jason Whitlock: 'Luka Doncic doesn't want LeBron back'