Insider Drops Wild 4-Team Scenario That Would Pair Up LeBron & Steph

Look, we all saw how much LeBron James and Steph Curry enjoyed playing together on the Gold Medal-winning US Olympic Team this summer in Paris. That has led folks to dream up ways to get those two together on the same team in the NBA.

We've already brought you one report that would have them teaming up Golden State, now we have an absolutely wild 4-team blockbuster proposal that comes to us from NBA insider Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. He thought long and hard about a potential scenario that would get LeBron and Steph paired up, and he came up with an insane script that pairs them up in Hollywood — a proposal that also reels in the Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons.

Here's what Pincus figures could work:

LA Lakers Receive:

Steph Curry (from Warriors)
Day'Ron Sharpe (from Nets)
Wendell Moore Jr. (from Detroit Pistons)
$3.9 million trade exception (Jalen Hood-Schifino)

Golden State Warriors Receive:

Austin Reaves (via Lakers)
Ben Simmons (via Brooklyn Nets)
2029 unprotected first-rounder (via Lakers)
2031 unprotected first-rounder (via Lakers)
$2.4 million trade exception (Curry)

Brooklyn Nets Receive:

D'Angelo Russell (via Lakers)
Rui Hachimura (via Lakers)
Gabe Vincent (via Lakers)
Jalen Hood-Schifino (via Lakers)
$23.3 million trade exception (Simmons)
$2.0 million trade exception (Dennis Schröder)

Detroit Pistons Receive:

Dennis Schröder (via Nets)
Christian Wood (via Lakers)
2025 LA Clippers second-rounder (via Lakers)
2025 Miami Heat second-rounder (38-59, via Nets)
$4 million (via Lakers)

There's a lot to digest there.

The Lakers, of course, get the LeBron/Steph pairing, at the expense of Reeves and plenty of other non-impact assets.

The Nets get some young pieces, the Pistons get a couple of veterans on expiring contracts, and both of the rebuilding teams get some futures.

But here's where it falls apart: The Warriors would be trading their four-time champion, the face of the franchise, and the game's greatest shooter of all-time to the Lakers for, essentially, Ben Simmons and a couple of first-rounders far away into the future. This part of the proposal makes it a bit delusional. Simmons, as we know, is pretty toxic at this point, and persona non-grata all over the NBA after basically tanking the last three seasons.

Sure, the Warriors also get a nice piece in Austin Reaves, but even the fact that Simmons is on an expiring contract ($40 million) would not make this anywhere close to digestible for the Dubs.

Nice try, though.