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A new wrinkle emerged in the foiled Golden State Warriors‘ trade pursuit of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James at the trade deadline.
According to Substack’s NBA insider Marc Stein, it was James’ powerful agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports who nixed the talks before they even got past the exploratory stage.
“It is believed that the Lakers would have reluctantly entertained trade conversations with the Warriors before last February’s trade deadline if James wanted them to seriously engage Golden State on a potential deal. Yet league sources say that the reported talks between the teams at the time never got that far in large part because James’ agent Rich Paul was adamantly opposed to the idea of James swapping Southern California for Northern California,” Stein wrote.
Paul was protective of James’ image, according to Stein.
“Sources say Paul implored both teams to scrap the concept — despite some owner-to-owner dialogue between the Warriors’ Joe Lacob and the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss and Green’s determination to lobby James to push for relocation to the Bay Area — largely because he wanted to insulate James from potential backlash over switching teams for the fourth time in his career,” Stein wrote.
James went on record, revealing the trade talks did not reach him until it was reported.
“It [the trade talks] didn’t go far at all,” James said on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” broadcast on February 18. “I actually heard about it when everybody else heard about it. Obviously, you know, Charles [Barkley] has been in the league, Kenny [Smith] has been in the league, Shaq has been in the league… and sometimes, there’s conversations that happen behind closed doors that you don’t even know about.”
LeBron James-Stephen Curry’s Golden Partnership
The chemistry between James and longtime rival Stephen Curry which led Team USA’s gold medal run in the 2024 Paris Olympics re-ignited social media and TV chatter about a dream scenario where they could play together in one NBA team as their careers wind up.
Their two-man game with James as Curry’s ball screen partner was Team USA’s bread and butter in the Olympic games’ most crucial moments, including one of Curry’s flurry of 3-pointers in the gold medal match against host France.
ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks outlined a pathway that could lead to a James-Curry tandem down the road.
“LeBron James signed a two-year contract this past offseason, and with the two-year contract, there’s a player option there,” Marks said on “NBA Today” on August 13. “He has a player option; he can become a free agent once again next offseason and pick the team that he would want to go to.
That comes with leaving $50 million on the table to go to a team like Golden State and join Steph Curry. I think the big thing is to keep an eye on maybe the summer of 2026. Steph Curry has two years left on his contract and has the ability to sign an extension. He [Curry] could become a free agent, also. Certainly, LeBron next offseason or, potentially, in the summer of ’26, when both could be free agents.”
LeBron James Not Expected to Leave Bronny, Lakers
While a James-Curry partnership is the Warriors’ dream, it is expected to remain just like that, according to Stein.
“The strong play of Curry and LeBron James as U.S. Olympic teammates has inspired countless articles and TV segments in recent days about how great it would be to see them hook up as full-time NBA teammates,” Stein wrote. “The notion of James leaving the Lakers, however, has long been regarded as a long shot and is obviously even harder to imagine now than it was previously after the purple and gold drafted his son Bronny James in June with the No. 55 overall pick and duly signed Bronny to a four-year contract.”
Lakers’ new coach JJ Redick touted Bronny as “test case No. 1” for the team’s new development program under his leadership.
“Coach Redick is already excited about putting a development plan around him to increase his basketball skills and turn them into the player that we think can impact and help this franchise,” Rob Pelinka. Lakers vice president of basketball operations, told reporters after the 2024 NBA Draft on June 27.
It is unlikely to see LeBron leaving Bronny while his son is figuring out his place in the NBA.
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