After competing against each other in the NBA Finals four straight years from 2015-18 and playing in countless other classic contests, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James joined forces to lead Team USA to its fifth consecutive gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
With both the 40-year-old James and 36-year-old Curry approaching the end of their NBA careers, could they team up again, this time on the Dubs? Though the idea seems far-fetched, that hasn’t stopped NBA writers from creating trade proposals that would land the Association’s all-time leading scorer with the league’s all-time three-point king.
Among the scribes to recently craft a blockbuster idea that would send James to the Bay Area was Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz. In his “1 Trade Every NBA Team Should Propose Right Now” post, Swartz listed an idea for the Lakers to acquire Charlotte Hornets star guard LaMelo Ball in exchange for Los Angeles’ starting backcourt of Austin Reaves and Max Christie, starting forward Rui Hachimura and four future draft picks.
Swartz’ idea for Golden State to pick up James looks like this:
Warriors receive: LeBron James
Lakers receive: Andrew Wiggins, Buddy Hield, Gary Payton II, Jonathan Kuminga, 2025 first-round pick (top-five unprotected)
Lakers Are Very Unlikely to Trade James
Though Swartz wrote that his list of proposals are “trades that would make sense for every franchise, no matter what direction they’re headed,” he also admitted that his idea for the Lakers-Warriors swap is certainly out there.
“Will the Lakers actually trade James? Probably not. But that shouldn’t stop the Warriors from at least making another phone call,” he wrote. “The idea of pairing James with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green could lead to one last championship for all three, only adding to the legacies of the three future Hall of Famers. With the Lakers hovering in mediocrity once again, James should at least consider spending the remainder of his career with Curry by his side.”
Though the Lakers (20-17) have lost three in a row, they’re right in the thick of the playoff chase, sitting seventh in the Western Conference. They’re just 1/2 game behind the Los Angeles Clippers (21-17) for the final spot to avoid the Play-In Tournament and are in the mix to move all the way up to second or third in the standings.
Both the Clippers and Lakers are hoping to come together as a city in the wake of the area’s devastating wildfires and make a push up the conference playoff picture. James and company are just 5 1/2 games behind the second-place Houston Rockets (26-12).
Even though he’s past his prime, James is still one of the best players in the NBA and his team’s top weapon outside of Anthony Davis. Add in that LBJ’s oldest son — Bronny — is a rookie with the squad — and it seems unfathomable that Los Angeles would trade its biggest name.
Curry, Draymond Green Not Talking Like They’d Welcome This Kind of Trade
The Warriors (19-20), meanwhile, have just three teams below them in the conference standings and five groups between them and the Lakers. Due to the small separation in winning percentage between the Rockets and Dubs, however, Golden State could certainly make its way back into the Play-In Tournament or better.
Under longtime head coach Steve Kerr, Curry and veteran forward Draymond Green are seeking at least one more championship ring to add to the four they earned between 2015 and 2022. Curry and Green aren’t talking like they’re ready for the organization to blow up the roster for a superstar like James, or Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat.
“The beautiful part about being in the space that we’re in is, Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and myself all disagree with mortgaging off the future of this organization, saying that we’re going for it right now,” the former Defensive Player of the Year said, per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. “Bad teams do that. Bad organizations do that. We’re not neither one.”
“Desperate trades or desperate moves that deplete the future, there is a responsibility on allowing or keeping the franchise in a good space and good spot when it comes to where we leave this thing when we’re done,” Curry added, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “Doesn’t mean that you’re not trying to get better. It doesn’t mean that you’re not active in any type of search to, if you have an opportunity where a trade makes sense or even in the summer free agency (move) makes sense. You want to continue to get better. … Nobody wants to be stale or be in a situation where you’re passing up opportunities. But it doesn’t mean that you’re desperate just flinging assets all around the place just because you want to do something.”
Swartz’ Lakers-Warriors trade proposal sends a mix of youngsters and veterans from Golden State to Los Angeles for James. While guards Gary Payton II and Buddy Hield are 32 years old and Andrew Wiggins will be 30 in February, the other pieces would be tougher to let go.
Jonathan Kuminga has missed the last five games with an ankle sprain and may not return until February but is arguably the team’s most promising up-and-comer.
The 2021 seventh overall pick broke out in his third season during the 2023-24 campaign, finishing third on the team in scoring (16.1 points per game) and with career best shooting numbers from the field (.529) and charity stripe (.746) across 74 games (46 starts). Kuminga is second on the Warriors in points per game (career-high 16.8) over 32 contests (10 starts) this season.
Kuminga, on top of an upcoming top-five draft pick, a starting forward in Wiggins and two rotation players would be giving up a lot for James, as good as he still is.
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