All throughout Team USA’s remarkable run to the gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics, LeBron James and Steph Curry remained among the most dominant and impactful players on the team. James served as a consistent leader for Team USA, and his efforts were rewarded with the tournament MVP award. Meanwhile, Curry put up huge performances in the two most important games of the tournament. In the semi-final game against Serbia, Curry had 36 points, including nine made threes.
Curry followed up that stellar outing with another gem in the final against France, finishing with 24 points, five assists, and two steals. Aside from the spectacular individual performances from the two superstars, the chemistry between both players was also undeniable. This has inevitably led to widespread internet speculation about James and Curry potentially teaming up in the NBA sometime in the future. Obviously, this situation is highly unlikely; however, it’s still fun to postulate how such a move could feasibly end up happening.
James and Curry are unquestionably two of the greatest players in NBA history. They defined the 2010s-era, winning eight championships between 2011 and 2022. The two superstars notably went head-to-head against one another in four consecutive NBA finals from 2015 to 2018. Now, as both players enter the twilight of their careers, they are still among the league’s best, and fan interest remains sky-high for the two of them to join forces on the same team. A recent report circulated by NBA Insider Marc Stein indicated that the Lakers had explored trading LeBron to the Warriors earlier this year but that James’ agent, Rich Paul, was adamantly against it, citing that a fourth team change for James could lead to potential backlash and end up having a negative impact on his legacy.
While it seems unfathomable at this point that anything could harm LeBron’s legacy as great as it is, Paul’s concerns were apparently enough for the potential move to fall through. To be fair, the reports are unclear on how far along the Lakers and Warriors were in the rumored trade talks. Nevertheless, it would have been a real treat for NBA fans to see the two legends wearing the same uniform in a non-Olympic setting.
The downfall of the supposed Lakers-Warriors trade proposal likely means that any possibility of James and Curry playing together in the future is highly improbable. However, for the sake of speculation, let’s try to imagine any possible future scenario where the two could be paired together. Assuming that LeBron will play in L.A. for the rest of his career, that would obviously mean that it would be Steph who would have to be moved. Just for fun, let’s say that Golden State is somewhere near the bottom of the standings when the trade deadline rolls around in February 2025.
We can also assume that the Lakers will be hovering around the playoff line about that same time: a good team but not a great team as they have been since winning the title in 2020. Not wanting to go through another first-round playoff exit, L.A. decides to make a splashy trade for a third superstar in hopes of milking a second, and presumably last, title out of the LeBron James era.
Sure, this entire scenario is far-fetched, to say the least, but let’s not pretend that it wouldn’t end up making some sense for the parties involved. The Lakers have been actively searching for another star to join LeBron and Anthony Davis as they attempt to lift the team back into title contention.
Steph Curry is exactly the kind of player that could fill that void. It is quite clear that L.A. is in need of a sharpshooter, so what better player is there to bring in other than the greatest shooter in NBA history? Surely, adding a player of Curry’s caliber would make the Lakers some sort of championship threat, even if they do have to give up a combination of D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves, or draft picks in a potential trade package.
From Golden State’s perspective, the deal would make sense if they find themselves in a scenario where they are far enough out of contention to a give a heads up on a full rebuild. After all, the Warriors had already parted ways with one Splash Brother. Trading the aging Curry in exchange for a collection of young assets could end up being the right move for a franchise that doesn’t appear to be trending in the right direction.
As of right now, the likelihood of any of this happening is fluttering somewhere in between little and none. We have officially reached the portion of the NBA offseason where purely speculative articles like this see the light of day. Thank God football season is starting soon.
