The Golden State Warriors had their chance to trade for LeBron James during the 2023-24 season. Such a deal would have put James on the same team as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — players the Cleveland Cavaliers team he led defeated in a seven-game 2016 NBA Finals — as well as veterans Chris Paul and Andrew Wiggins.
But each time the Warriors inquired the Los Angeles Lakers about a potential deal, the latter team was not interested.
This offseason, James exercised the $52.6 million player option attached to a two-year contract he signed ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, meaning he will play with the Lakers for at least one more season. James' future beyond this year remains uncertain, but if he were to continue his career as a professional basketball player, he would become an unrestricted free agent on June 30.
Should that happen, the Warriors are among three teams an anonymous NBA executive believes will make a run to sign him.
“Cleveland, Dallas and Golden State, those are the three teams I’m looking at,” the executive told DallasHoopsJournal.com's Ashish Mathur. “All three would have loved to trade for him this offseason, but he never requested a trade and he makes way too much money. Once he’s on the open market, those three will court him. I have no doubt in my mind.”
James has ties to both the Cavaliers and Mavericks, too. His connection to Cleveland is obvious — the Cavaliers selected James with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, and he spent 11 years of his career with the team across two stints. The Mavericks, meanwhile, currently have two players he has previously won titles with — Kyrie Irving (2016 with the Cavaliers) and Anthony Davis (2020 with the Lakers) — on their roster.
James, who is heading into his age-41 season, is the league's oldest active player. He has still remained productive despite his age, averaging 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game across 70 regular-season contests last year.