How LeBron James Could Really Land with Golden State Warriors This Offseason

A few hours before the nightly slate of NBA action tipped off Monday, a rumor started circulating all over social media.

And it's not the first time we've heard some variation of this one.

As Ashish Mathur put it: "Golden State Warriors legends Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will heavily recruit LeBron James this offseason once free agency starts, sources told Lakers Daily."

You don't have to think back too far to previous deadlines, when the Warriors tried to trade for LeBron. Those conversations obviously didn't lead to real deals, but the path to landing him is much clearer now.

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Part of the apparent tension between LeBron and the Los Angeles Lakers is the fact that they didn't offer him an extension ahead of this contract year. That was the most obvious sign L.A. is now Luka Dončić's team. Its play style throughout this campaign, in which Luka is the Lakers' runaway leader in both usage percentage and assist percentage, reinforced that.

Now, the idea of him re-signing with L.A. seems next to absurd. The Lakers need a rim-running 5 and three-and-D wings and forwards to deploy around Dončić. LeBron's game, especially when paired with Austin Reaves, is just far too duplicative of what the Slovenian does.

When all three playmakers are on the floor, L.A. is a ho-hum plus-1.8 points per 100 possessions. When Reaves and Dončić play without LeBron, that net rating soars to plus-11.1.

All this is to say, it sure looks like the Lakers' LeBron era will end after this season. And while it's fun to think about a 2026-27 farewell tour with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, the Warriors potentially entering this chat is worth thinking about.

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No, at this point in their careers, soon-to-be-38-year-old Curry and 41-year-old LeBron aren't likely to make Golden State surefire contenders. Jimmy Butler working his way back from a torn ACL, Kristaps Porziņģis dealing with what Steve Kerr recently described as a "mysterious" illness, and Draymond Green turning 36 don't exactly scream title favorite, either.

But this season, the Warriors' top two players in total minutes played are Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody. Will Richard, Gui Santos and Pat Spencer are all in the top 12 of that column, too.

And while there is plenty to extol about all of those members of the younger core—they deserve credit for keeping Golden State competitive after all this season's injuries—LeBron is still outperforming them in 2025-26. He has some recent success winning Olympic gold with Curry in France, too. And if he's willing to sign for a reasonable deal, adding him makes plenty of sense.

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LeBron doesn't necessarily have to sign with the Warriors (or any other suitor) for the minimum. Golden State could have access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception this summer. That would allow it to offer a starting salary of $15.1 million. It could also have the $5.5 million bi-annual exception. And the Warriors don't have to give all of either to LeBron. Each of those exceptions can be divvied up among multiple free agents.

By the end of this season, James will have made nearly $600 million in NBA salary alone. Curry and Draymond don't necessarily have to be the world's best salesmen to talk LeBron into signing for less than he's used to making.

They would have to do a pretty good job of selling the Warriors' system, though.

Prior to Luka's arrival in L.A., LeBron had spent the bulk of his time there (and every other stop he had before the Lakers) as a ball-dominant, possession-engineering point forward who meticulously ran his team's offense. Everything ran through him.

Playing in Golden State might require even more of an adjustment than he's had to make with Dončić. The success of that scheme has long depended on everyone's willingness to move without the ball. Players also have to be willing to shoot or get off of it quickly when it does come to them.

Assuming coach Steve Kerr wouldn't suddenly upend everything for LeBron, the future Hall of Famer might have to make as many decisions out of the short roll as he would as a pick-and-roll initiator.

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But everyone (or at least those most important to this possible experiment) has done this before.

Kerr was Team USA's coach for its spectacular run to gold in 2024. He empowered LeBron and Curry to run the show down the stretch of tight contests against Serbia and France, and it paid off both times.

Now, even that was two years ago. Time is definitely starting to sap these stars of some of their basketball superpowers, but both deserve swan songs. And together, they could write a good one.