How LeBron, Kawhi to Warriors Could Happen and Giannis Trade Rumors Updated After GSW Loss to Suns

If the Golden State Warriors want to take a massive swing in an attempt to win at least one more championship with Stephen Curry after their season ended with a loss to the Phoenix Suns in the play-in tournament, there is a path in which they could potentially bring in LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard.

Per The Athletic's Nick Friedell and Marcus Thompson II, league observers have "speculated" about either James or Leonard maybe wanting to "find a way" to the Warriors.

In order to land James, Friedell and Thompson noted the Warriors would likely need to let Kristaps Porziņģis walk in free agency and/or trade Jimmy Butler's expiring contract just to get to the non-taxpayer midlevel exception projected to be around $15

"To use that, they would become hard-capped at the first apron (projected at $209 million), and it would likely require Porziņģis leaving and/or trading Butler. They could easily get to the $6.1 million taxpayer MLE, were James willing to accept something that close to his minimum. A sign-and-trade scenario, which the Lakers would have to be incentivized to accept, would also hard-cap the Warriors at the first apron, and salaries would have to sufficiently match."

The report notes that Butler's contract would be the easiest way for the Warriors to facilitate a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers for Leonard, but it's unclear if L.A. would be interested in that scenario:

"Matching salaries in a trade for Leonard gets tricky because the only single salary that gets them there is Butler, whom the Clippers might not want. Outside of that, it's potentially [Draymond] Green (likely picking up his player option), Moody and $10 million in other salaries like [Brandin] Podziemski or [Gui] Santos."

The biggest potential prize on the market this summer could be Giannis Antetokounmpo, with Friedell and Thompson noting the Warriors will "continue to monitor the market and see if something opens up" after their pursuit of the two-time NBA MVP prior to the trade deadline in February.

Warriors-Suns Highlights

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Friedell and Thompson did note one person with the Warriors said the team wasn't planning on "dealing multiple future assets" to bring in more aging, veteran talent.

That would complicate things as far as Leonard and Antetokounmpo are concerned. This season did a lot to rehab Leonard's value, as his 65 games played were his second-most since 2017-18.

However, Leonard will turn 35 on June 29 and his extensive injury history doesn't suggest that his relatively-healthy 2025-26 is going to be the norm going forward.

Antetokounmpo's injury situation could also complicate his value. He only played 36 games this season due to various calf, ankle and knee injuries.

Even accounting for the possibility that the Milwaukee Bucks may have held Antetokounmpo out simply to avoid exposing him to a more significant injury, he has missed at least 15 games in four of the last five years.

The Warriors do control all of their first-round picks going forward, which would seem to make them a very attractive trade partner for a team like the Bucks if they want to move on from Antetokounmpo.

Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard recently reported that Golden State was "reasonably close" to acquiring Leonard in February before the Clippers backed down.

James might be the easiest player from this group for the Warriors to get simply because he is going to become a free agent able to negotiate with any team that he wants.

It's unclear exactly what James' future plans are at this point. His options figure to include returning to the Los Angeles Lakers, staying in L.A. and joining Leonard on the Clippers, going back to Cleveland to finish his career where it started, teaming up with Curry after the two have talked about it for years and even potentially retirement.

The financial aspect involved for James with any of those potential teams is fascinating. He has only signed for less than the max one time in his career — when he joined the Miami Heat to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Given his age and the lack of cap space around the NBA, it would seem like James might have to take a pay cut no matter where he signs, assuming he does continue his career.

Since winning the NBA Finals at the end of the 2021-22 season, the Warriors have won just two playoff series in the past four years. Their 37-45 record this season was their worst since 2019-20 (15-50), so they have a lot of work to do if they want to get back to being a title contender in the Western Conference.