Stephen Curry has not been shy about wanting a certain teammate this summer. He has made his case in public more than once, and it sounds like people are starting to listen.
New numbers out this week suggest the Warriors‘ pitch is landing harder than most expected. The race for LeBron James just got a fresh shakeup, and Golden State is right in the middle of it.
Warriors Move Past Heat In LeBron James Odds
GettyWarriors Are Now One Step Closer to LeBron James
Golden State has jumped ahead of Miami for second place in the market to land James, according to Polymarket data. The Cavaliers still lead at 45 percent, but the Warriors now sit at 22 percent, just ahead of the Heat at 21 percent. It is a tight gap, but real movement in a race that had Miami ahead not long ago.
Cavs – 45% Warriors – 22% Heat – 21%
The shift lines up with what Curry has been saying out loud. Speaking to reporters at a golf event in Lake Tahoe, he laid out his case for James plainly.
“The pitch is: Do you want to play good basketball and be around people that know how to play the game? Hopefully raise our floor and our competitiveness this year. There’s good golf in the Bay. We’re an organization that’s been there. He knows that. That’s really self-explanatory. It’s a matter of where he sees himself fitting. At the end of the day, that’s up to him,” Curry said.
That golf line was not random. Rich Paul, James’ longtime agent, has said “indoor and outdoor golf” matter to his client, so Curry’s comment reads like a wink at something Paul already made public.
James and Curry already have real chemistry on record. The two played together on the gold medal winning 2024 Olympic team under Warriors coach Steve Kerr, and both have talked about wanting to play meaningful basketball as they near the end of their careers. Draymond Green is part of that bond too, with a long history alongside James.
What Still Stands Between Golden State And A Deal
GettyWarriors Just Passed a Major Rival in LeBron James Race
Green already made his move to help the cause. He turned down his $27.7 million player option before free agency opened, a decision aimed at giving the front office room to chase James and explore a trade for Anthony Davis. The Warriors’ payroll still sits above $177 million even after that, which makes using the mid-level exception on James anything but simple.
The Davis piece is stuck for now. Washington has made clear it intends to keep him and is not interested in engaging on a trade, even with the Warriors reportedly willing to send Jimmy Butler and multiple first-round picks.
Butler himself is recovering from ACL surgery and is not expected back until sometime in the 2027 calendar year, which only complicates any deal Golden State tries to put together.
Cleveland is still the team to beat. Home ties and a shot at a full circle ending carry weight nobody else can match. But the gap between the Warriors and Heat closing, with Curry making his case out loud, gives Golden State something it did not have a few weeks back: real momentum. James has said he plans to decide later in the summer, so this market will likely keep shifting before he does.
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