The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors are two storied franchises that currently find themselves in similar situations with aging superstars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry but not enough help around them to contend for a championship.
Last season, both teams ended up in the play-in, with the Lakers ultimately losing in the first round and the Warriors not even making the playoffs. And this offseason, neither team has made moves big enough to get back into title contention.
But back to last year’s trade deadline, a big story came out that Warriors tried to make deal for James to pair him with Curry, Draymond Green and the rest of their core.
If this is something James was interested in, then the Lakers and owner Jeanie Buss may have considered it. But it turns out that LeBron’s agent and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul made sure a trade never happened because he didn’t want to see the superstar change teams for a fourth time, according to NBA Insider Marc Stein:
The idea of James leaving the Lakers, however, has long been considered a distant prospect and is obviously even harder to imagine now than it was before after the purple and gold drafted his son Bronny James in June with the 55th overall pick and duly signed Bronny to a four-year deal.
The Lakers are believed to have reluctantly considered negotiations with the Warriors before last February’s trade deadline if James had wanted them to seriously engage in discussions with Golden State about a potential deal. Yet league sources say the talks between the teams at the time never got to that point, largely because James’ agent, Rich Paul, was adamantly opposed to the idea of James trading Southern California for Northern California.
Sources say Paul implored both teams to abandon the concept — despite owner-to-owner dialogue between the Warriors’ Joe Lacob and the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss and Green’s determination to pressure James to move to the Bay Area — largely because he wanted to protect James from a potential backlash by switching teams for the fourth time in his career.
It’s interesting to see that Paul has this kind of influence on James and his decision making, although it’s not too surprising given how close they’ve been throughout their lives.
Despite the Lakers’ inactivity this offseason, James still chose to re-sign with the team for his 22nd NBA season. But that doesn’t mean things can’t change in the future, because if the Lakers fail to improve this season, trade rumors could start to reignite as the trade deadline approaches.
The same could be said of the Warriors and Curry, because after teaming up with James in the Olympics, both must imagine what it would be like if they were on the same NBA team, whether in Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay Area. That should make for an interesting subplot this season, even if it’s hard to imagine either team being willing to part ways with their superstars.
Stephen Curry Admits He Had ‘Healthy Resentment’ Toward LeBron James
LeBron James and Stephen Curry being teammates in the NBA would certainly take some getting used to given that they have been rivals for so many years.
In fact, before joining Team USA this summer, Curry admitted to having a “healthy resentment” toward James when they met in the NBA Finals year after year.
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