A story from ESPN’s Chris Haynes that dropped on Thursday morning sent shockwaves around the NBA and led to plenty of arguments and discussions.
At its core, the report shouldn’t have really been anything to be stunned about, as it simply said LeBron James would take a meeting with the Warriors should they clear space to offer him a max contract this summer. In a vacuum, that’s what every free agent would do. If a team has the money to offer a max contract, you go talk to them. That’s how free agency works.
However, LeBron does not operate in that vacuum and him simply considering going to the Warriors by so much as taking a meeting is enough to send the NBA world into a tizzy. The Warriors have been his chief rival during his second stint in Cleveland and for him to join them would be even more shocking than Kevin Durant doing so two years ago.
Naturally, the LeBron topic came up at Warriors practice on Thursday, and while Bob Myers couldn’t speak on it for tampering reasons, the players could. Durant was a logical place to start, being that he has done the impossible and joined the Warriors’ super team, but Durant laughed off the idea and called bullsh*t on LeBron ever following through.
What was Kevin Durant’s first thought when he saw report of LeBron James being willing to meet with #Warriors in free agency?
“Bulls#%*” pic.twitter.com/SnYilcTXde
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) February 1, 2018
Durant does go on to say that people would’ve said the same thing about him joining the Warriors and that anything is possible in the NBA, as we’ve seen. That said, the LeBron scenario is far less likely, not because James wouldn’t consider going there, but because of everything else that would have to happen to get him there.
The Warriors would have to rid themselves of Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala’s contracts, while convincing Durant to, once again, take a massive pay cut this summer. That all seems like it won’t happen, but this does make for some fun conversation in early February.
