Insider: LeBron James to Warriors Was In Serious Consideration, But One Force Killed It

According to a new report from connected NBA insider Marc Stein, LeBron James almost became a Golden State Warrior last season. But his agent put the kibosh on the idea.

REPORT: REPORT: Agent Rich Paul reportedly “implored the Golden State Warriors & Los Angeles Lakers to scrap the idea” of trading LeBron James to the Warriors last season, “largely because he wanted to insulate James from potential backlash over switching teams for the 4th time… pic.twitter.com/oKXVl36kX2
— Courtside Buzz (@CourtsideBuzzX) August 18, 2024

Stein reports that James' agent Rich Paul “implored the Golden State Warriors & Los Angeles Lakers to scrap the idea” of a LeBron trade to the Warriors last season to join forces with Steph Curry, “largely because he wanted to insulate James from potential backlash over switching teams for the 4th time in his career.”

Whoa. This would have been an earth-shattering move, and we can see from the chemistry and camaraderie that James and Curry had on the Gold Medal-winning US Olympic Team this summer, that it just might have worked out swimmingly. For Golden State, anyway. There's no word on how the Lakers would have made out in a deal like that.

The possibility of this potential blockbuster emerged ahead of the trade deadline this past February, with Draymond Green pushing for the deal, and some "owner-to-owner dialogue between the Warriors' Joe Lacob and the Lakers' Jeanie Buss" even took place.

It looks like NBA fans will have to take the Olympic experience as their lasting memory of Steph and LeBron together.