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The Golden State Warriors made a serious bid to pair Stephen Curry with four-time NBA MVP LeBron James this past February 8 trade deadline, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.
But an owner-to-owner conversation and a check-in with James’ representation ended the Warriors’ futile attempt.
Armed with the encouragement of Warriors star Draymond Green, Golden State owner Joe Lacob reached out to Lakers owner Jeanie Buss to inquire whether James’ apparent public frustration could be interpreted as an opening to discuss a trade, sources said.
Buss told Lacob the Lakers had no desire to trade James, but that he would need to seek the answer on James’ state of mind from his agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, sources said. As an owner, Buss has operated with the mindset that she wants her star players content with the franchise, and that instructed her thinking on referring Warriors leadership to James’ representation, sources said.
While it was not divulged what the Warriors’ package was, they only have three large contracts outside of Curry and Draymond Green, which would have matched James’ $47.6 million salary — Klay Thompson ($43.2 million), Andrew Wiggins ($24.3 million) and Chris Paul ($30.8 million). Either it was a combination of Wiggins and Paul’s salaries with draft capital for James plus fillers or a Thompson and fillers with draft capital for James would have been the potential trade framework.
According to the ESPN report, it was Green, who tried to recruit James, not Curry.
Earlier Wednesday, Green — whom Paul also represents at Klutch — had sent Paul a text message soliciting his help convincing James to join him in Golden State, sources said. Once, Green had been a lead recruiter on Kevin Durant’s free agency signing with Golden State, but this was a far different, far more futile eleventh-hour pursuit.
Warriors Also Considered Alex Caruso and Kelly Olynyk
After failing to land James, the Warriors also considered trading for his former teammate Alex Caruso and stretch big man Kelly Olynyk, according to Shelburne.
“They were down the road and had very serious conversations about Alex Caruso, about Kelly Olynyk. Teams were calling about Andrew Wiggins. He’d been playing a lot better and I think when it got down to it when I’m told, everybody asked for Jonathan Kuminga, and they essentially said, we are never trading Kuminga. He is untouchable,” Shelburne said on “NBA Today” on February 12.
Wiggins has rebounded from his early struggles and is playing solid stretch with Green returning from his second suspension of the season. But Kuminga proves to be the Warriors’ biggest revelation as the third-year wing has started to put things together.
Jonathan Kuminga-Andrew Wiggins Pairing Finally Working
Since The Athletic reported that Kuminga has lost faith in Steve Kerr which they subsequently patched things up, the Warriors young forward rose to become the team’s second-best player and has never looked back.
In 17 games since that report, Kuminga averaged 20.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 56.6% from the field and 40% on 3-pointers.
Green has unlocked the once unplayable Kuminga-Wiggins tandem.
Since Steve Kerr rolled the Kuminga-Wiggins-Green frontline on January 27 against the Los Angeles Lakers, Wiggins averaged 14.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 54.2% from the field and 52.2% from deep.
They are 7-2 since Kerr committed to that new starting five.
That Kuminga-Wiggins-Green frontline is plus-15.9 with Curry and Klay Thompson, per Cleaning the Glass. And their net rating becomes a staggering plus-40.1 when rookie Brandin Podziemski replaces Thompson in that lineup.
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