EL SEGUNDO — After being teammates this summer with Team USA, Lakers star forward LeBron James and Golden State Warriors star guard Steph Curry will return to a more familiar setting on Tuesday night: being on opposite teams.
The Lakers’ preseason slate continues when they host the Warriors at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, marking the first time James and Curry will be opponents since leading Team USA to the gold medal in the Paris Olympics.
The Lakers and Warriors will meet again on Friday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco to conclude their preseason schedules.
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“It was everything and more,” James reflected after Monday’s practice. “I was super excited to be able to finally team up with him in a win-or-die type atmosphere. That’s what it was, being a part of the Olympics. It was everything that I dreamed of and aspired to want to be a part of that team, along with Steph.
“Great memories. Something that I’ll remember from my basketball career for the rest of my life, for sure.”
The legendary matchups between James’ and Curry’s teams have been well-chronicled.
Their teams squared off in the NBA Finals over four consecutive years (2015-18) when James was on the Cleveland Cavaliers and had four straight Christmas Day matchups: 2015-17 when James was in Cleveland and 2018 during James’ first season with the Lakers.
They’ll add another Christmas Day matchup when the Lakers travel to play the Warriors in San Francisco this season.
After years of their teams battling one another, the mutual respect between two of the sport’s all-time greats was already there. But being teammates – with the goal of winning one of the ultimate prizes in basketball, no less – took it to another level.
“When you’re around someone on a day-to-day basis, you’re able to be around them and you see how hard they work, you see how much they commit to the game, then that’s the appreciation and the respect right off top,” James said. “So, I understand what Steph has done for this game. I understand what he’s done for this organization, what he’s done for the community, people all over the world. Just by his approach to the game and how he is as a man.
“How he is as a family man. How he is as a husband, a dad, a son, all that stuff. So when you have that type of respect for somebody and then you get to be around them every day and you see the way they work and how they treat their craft, it’s a pretty cool thing. You’re able to just respect that and not take it for granted.”
Could the stars ever align for the two to be teammates again?
“Oh, I have no idea,” James said. “I have no idea.”
WARRIORS AT LAKERS
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. PT
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas