LeBron Free Agency: Warriors Pursue Curry Reunion
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- LeBron James becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of June, with the Lakers viewed as favorites to retain him but the Warriors waiting as an aggressive suitor for a potential pairing with Stephen Curry.
- In April 2022, James told The Shop that Curry was the one player he wanted to play with, calling him 'lethal' — and the Warriors reportedly approached the Lakers about a trade in 2024, with talks reaching the ownership level before James opted to stay in Los Angeles.
- James and Curry played together on Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where James became the first-ever Olympic basketball MVP and Curry hit the decisive shots in the semifinal win over Serbia and gold-medal game victory over France.
- The Warriors have approximately $21 million in room beneath the first apron, meaning they could offer James the $15 million nontaxpayer mid-level exception — which would mark his lowest salary since 2010-11 with the Miami Heat.
- Golden State could create additional cap flexibility by restructuring Draymond Green's $27.7 million player option or using Jimmy Butler's salary ($6.5 million higher than Kawhi Leonard's) as matching money in a blockbuster trade, though ESPN's Anthony Slater reports the Warriors are currently planning their offseason around the assumption James returns to the Lakers.
- On-court fit looks promising offensively — James as a passer out of post doubles alongside Curry as the best off-ball player in NBA history — but the Warriors would face serious defensive questions, with Curry (38), Green (36), James (41), and the injured Butler and Moody all aging and Porziņģis no longer mobile.
- The article cautions that a decade ago a James-Curry combination would have meant near-automatic championships, but at their current ages neither should be the centerpiece of a contender, and the Western Conference's Spurs and Thunder have set an 'almost impossibly high bar.'
Why it matters: James taking the mid-level exception from Golden State would represent an unprecedented pay cut for a four-time MVP — his lowest salary since 2010-11 — meaning the only realistic path to this superteam reunion requires the Lakers to exhaust their cap space on other players, making James's free agency decision a genuine leverage play rather than a formality.
