At this point, the Golden State Warriors, as well as the rest of the NBA, have been left to read tea leaves and project possibilities from the crumbs of clues when it comes to what LeBron James will do next as he nears a decision on his next team, which will likely be the last team for which he suits up in his career. The Warriors enter the season badly in need of a jolt after bringing back most of the same roster from the 2025-26 season, a roster that was battered by injuries and produced just 37 wins.
Certainly, there are more promising destinations for James–a return home to Cleveland would put him with the Cavs, who went to the East finals last year, and another stint with the Heat would pair him with Giannis Antetokounmpo, while going to the Sixers after the Jaylen Brown trade might create a mega-team in Philadelphia.
At various times, it’s been reported that the Warriors were the leading contender for James, while only shortly thereafter, it’s been reported that the Warriors are on the outside looking in. Heck, those updates have sometimes come from the same reporter.
Warriors a LeBron James ‘Dark Horse’
But the latest, from Marc Spears of ESPN is probably right about where the Warriors stand. They’re not out of the mix, Spears said, but they’re going to need a pretty remarkable finish to get over the line with a win. And they’re not a favorite.
Said Spears: “I was kind of hearing today that the Warriors internally kind of feel like they’re a dark horse at this point, that LeBron James is probably going out East.”
Oof. Yes, James is 41 and is not exactly the young pair of legs that the Warriors need. But with Jimmy Butler out and with James coming off a year in which he averaged 20.9 points on 51.5% shooting, with 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds, the Warriors could really use his presence.
Stephen Curry Involved in Warriors Pitch
That’s not to say that James would make the Warriors a contender, but he would help to give star guard Stephen Curry a magic finish to his own career. Curry and James have been the highest impact players of the past 20 years, and teaming them to end their NBA team would be memorable, even if the experiment does not end in a championship.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said that even with an outside shot, Curry has been pushing to get James signed, in a way he has not typically done with trades or free agents in his recent past. That’s an indication that Curry thinks there is a chance.
He said: “Over the last few weeks, the way Steph has handled this has been a complete departure from how he has been willingly involving himself in free agency pursuits by the Golden State organization in the past. To me, that is some sort of indicator that there is true interest in Steph joining up with LeBron and probably because he feels that there is some sort of chance of it happening.”
LeBron James Could Make Serious Silicon Valley Money
And Spears brought up another angle for the Warriors to push on James to get him to the Bay Area–James has already gotten a foot in the door in Southern California’s entertainment industry, why not go where the big money is in Northern California?
“If LeBron James wants to make up all this money that he’s losing, coming to the Bay Area is also Silicon Valley. When you think of the Silicon Valley, it’s the heart of innovation, it the wealth generation capital of the world, it is the capital of AI,” Spears said.
“He can get any major wealthy meeting that he wants if he goes there. Andre Iguodala has made a bunch of money, JaVale McGee, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson. Andre Iguodala said Klay Thompson has made more money in the tech industry than he has as a player. So if he goes there, there is a wealth of money to be had there.”
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