The last decade of the NBA has been defined by the battles between LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors. While they’ve been hotly contested and frequently have determined which team wins the NBA Finals, there’s always been a mutual respect there, and apparently, Golden State was interested in trying to bring James on board at the trade deadline.
A new piece by Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN lays out an “unsuccessful bid” the Warriors made to acquire James last week. While it’s unclear what Golden State would have offered Los Angeles to make this happen, there were conversations involving major decision makers from both teams, which started with Warriors owner Joe Lacob contacting Lakers owner Jeanie Buss about whether they could work something out and Buss referring him to Rich Paul, who represents both James and Warriors star Draymond Green.
If the Lakers ever wanted a temperature check on James’ commitment, here was his chance to tell them. In the end, that answer for the Warriors and Lakers returned resoundingly on the eve of the trade deadline: Rich Paul told Lacob and Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr., that James had no interest in a trade and wanted to remain a Laker, sources said. When Dunleavy Jr., reached out to Lakers GM Rob Pelinka in those pre-trade deadline hours, Dunleavy Jr., had been told the same: the Lakers wanted to keep James, sources said.
There was a rumor in the lead-up to the deadline that the possibility of James getting moved was very real, although Paul eventually said that he would remain in Los Angeles. It is almost impossible to imagine James suiting up in San Francisco alongside Green, Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson, but that certainly didn’t stop Golden State from trying to make that happen.
