The Golden State Warriors have yet to make a meaningful move this offseason, but they remain equipped with several tradable first-round picks and expiring salaries if the right player becomes available.
There is a chance such an opportunity could materialize within the state of California and involve a player the Dubs were interested in ahead of last year’s trade deadline: LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported on Saturday, July 12, from NBA summer league in Las Vegas that four teams have contacted Rich Paul, James’ longtime friend and agent, about a potential deal for the four-time MVP.
With LeBron James at the Lakers game tonight, I asked him if he would like to speak to me about his future with the franchise. “I ain’t got nothing to talk about,” he said. My report for ESPN from Las Vegas.
“Rich Paul told me that they never asked for [an extension]. Paul also made it clear to me that LeBron has not asked for a trade,” McMenamin reported. “And Paul hasn’t even discussed the possibility of wanting a trade in the future with the Lakers. Paul did tell me that four teams contacted him with interest in trading for LeBron. So now we wait.”
Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson followed McMenamin’s report with one of his own late Saturday night, in which he named the four teams that have been in contact with Paul to this point.
Mavs, Warriors, Cavs, Clippers,” Robinson posted to X.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry Have Proven Ability to Play Together at High Level
GettyLeBron James (left) and Stephen Curry (right) led Team USA to gold in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Golden State has already pushed most of its chips in on an older team led by Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, former heated rivals of James who have developed into friends and, in Green’s case, business partners over the past decade.
Curry and James co-led Team USA to a gold medal during the Summer Olympic Games in Paris last year and played exceptionally well off of one another under the leadership of head coach Steve Kerr in the context of the international competition.
There is little reason to believe that the two second-team All-NBA selections from the 2024-25 season couldn’t achieve similar success in the upcoming season, despite Curry turning 38 in March and James, already the oldest player in the league, turning 41 in December.
Jimmy Butler Offers Most Logical, Cleanest Trade Option in LeBron James Deal Between Warriors, Lakers
GettyJimmy Butler III of the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors made a strong push down the stretch of last season, falling just shy of a top-six seed in the West.
Golden State went on to defeat the Houston Rockets in a seven-game slugfest to advance out of Round 1 of the playoffs. However, Curry suffered a hamstring strain in the opening contest of the Dubs’ second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Warriors bowed out in five games.
It was the franchise’s acquisition of Jimmy Butler III from the Miami Heat that allowed Golden State to level up. But it’s hard to see a path for the Warriors to acquire James without flipping Butler to Los Angeles.
A sign-and-trade involving Jonathan Kuminga could theoretically be part of a workable deal, depending on how much interest the Lakers would have in the athletic forward at an annual average salary high enough to package him with other contributors to the Dubs’ roster who make sense alongside Luka Doncic.
James has one year remaining on his contract after he exercised his $52.6 million player option in late June. Butler makes $54.1 million next season and has two years remaining on his current agreement.
