Stephen Curry and LeBron James will play basketball as teammates in a couple months … with the U.S. national men’s team in Paris during the Summer Olympics.
But what about next NBA season with Curry’s Golden State Warriors?
Possible in theory. Improbable in practice.
James on Monday concluded his sixth season with the Los Angeles Lakers, who lost a five-game, first-round playoff series to the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets. His contract contains a $51.4 million player option for 2024-25, meaning he can become a free agent again this summer should he choose to decline it.
He averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.3 assists in his 21st season, playing 71 games, shooting 54% from the field and 41% from 3-point range.
At 39, he remains one of the NBA’s best players.
Asked Monday at his postgame news conference whether he thought he might have played his last game for the Lakers, James told reporters, “I’m not going to answer that” before walking off the podium.
The Lakers “badly” want to retain James, according to a Monday report from the Athletic.
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The Warriors, for their part, don’t have the salary cap space to sign outright a player like James, eligible this summer for a three-year contract worth $164 million with the Lakers. Unless James bypasses the extra money by opting into the final year of his deal, absorbing such a contract for Golden State would necessitate a complicated, hard-capping sign-and-trade.
A deal would have been easier to execute in February, when Warriors owner Joe Lacob reportedly registered interest in James with the Lakers, when a deal wouldn’t have required a sign-and-trade — and when two-guard Klay Thompson’s lucrative, expiring contract was still in effect.
According to ESPN, Lacob contacted Lakers owner Jeanie Buss before the NBA’s annual trade deadline to inquire about James’ availability. She rebuffed his interest and referred him to James’ agent, Rich Paul, who also told Lacob his client wasn’t interested in a trade, per ESPN.
For James to join the Warriors, mutual interest must develop — along with a willingness from Los Angeles to send its star up I-5 and reconfigure its future. Any prospective trade would cost the Warriors at least a couple of their best young players and restrict the way they could build their team.
For all his timeless greatness — James is still an overpowering, versatile three-level scorer who can pick apart defenses with his passing — he’ll be 40 by next postseason, when Curry will be 37 and Draymond Green will be 35.
Absent the players traded for James, the aging Warriors would get older, more top-heavy and — in the short term, anyway — more talented after missing the playoffs this season.
James addressed his future again Tuesday, taking to X, formerly Twitter, to issue the following statement: “I’ve seen, heard a lot of reports about my future. I said it last night and I’ll say it again. I do not know yet as I’m only thinking about spending time with my family & friends! When I know after speaking with the fam, my counsel as well as my representation about it then you guys will know.”
USA Basketball begins training camp July 6 in Las Vegas.
Reach Sam Gordon: [email protected]
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