If this is, as it appears, the end of the Golden State Warriors dynasty, then they’re not going down with a fight.
Steph Curry is still one of the top players in the league. But injuries have finally caught up with Klay Thompson. Draymond Green is as much a problem as he is an asset, and young players don’t seem to trust head coach Steve Kerr.
So, with a below-.500 record and the clock seemingly ticking, Golden State reportedly tried to make one last massive swing at things at the NBA trade deadline.
Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN report that the Warriors attempted to trade for Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
The move would have paired together perhaps the two most influential players of the 2000s in the twilights of their respective careers.
But it wasn’t to be.
“The Warriors were eager to present a deal package to L.A., but neither the Lakers nor James were ultimately willing to explore a potential blockbuster,” the report states. “Even at 39 years old, James is still playing at an All-NBA level that stirred the Warriors’ imagination about his ability to extend the window of the franchise’s fading dynasty.”
James and the Lakers currently sit in ninth place in the Western Conference at 29-26, one game ahead of the Warriors.
But the superstar forward has a player option following the completion of the season and could well see out his playing days in a different locale. Especially as he makes repeated threats toward the front office regarding a potential departure.
However, when it came time for an answer at the deadline, the report states that James was happy to remain in LA.
“(James’ agent) Rich Paul told (Warriors owner Joe) Lacob and Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr., that James had no interest in a trade and wanted to remain a Laker,” Wojnarowski and Shelburne claim. “When Dunleavy reached out to Lakers GM Rob Pelinka in those pretrade deadline hours, Dunleavy had been told the same: The Lakers wanted to keep James, sources said.”
Instead, the NBA could end up with a scenario where neither Curry and the Warriors nor James and the Lakers make the playoffs.
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