While the NBA's recently passed trade deadline wasn't short on excitement, one exchange involving the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James almost occurred that would have been the biggest trade in the league's history.
According to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, the Golden State Warriors tried to acquire LeBron James from the Los Angeles Lakers in order to pair him with Steph Curry.
While the Warriors' bid was ultimately unsuccessful, first-year general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. made a concerted effort to bring James on board for the remainder of this NBA season.
Warriors made ?unsuccessful bid? to pair LeBron with Steph before trade deadline, per @wojespn and @ramonashelburne
Both the Lakers and LeBron declined pic.twitter.com/bWU9dD8y6O
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 14, 2024
Alas, neither the Lakers nor James agreed to whatever the Warriors would have offered in the deal. In fact, when the Warriors' brass contacted James' agent, Rich Paul, to inquire about James potentially parting ways with Los Angeles, Paul told Golden State that James had no interest in a trade to any team.
So while the potential trade didn't make it far, it's still fascinating that Golden State was trying to put together such a blockbuster deal in the waning hours before the trade deadline.
The Warriors were seemingly so keen to acquire James that they enlisted the help of polarizing forward Draymond Green — whom Paul also represents. Green sent Paul a text message asking him to try to convince James to say yes to going to Golden State.
Although the Warriors weren't able to poach James from the Lakers this time around, they can make another offer during the offseason. That's when James has a $51.4 million player option on his contract for his final season with Los Angeles.
Considering that James will likely decline that player option regardless of whether he intends to re-sign with the Lakers — and all reports indicate that he does — that still opens the door for the Warriors to pursue the all-time great once again.
With this potential deal having never gotten past the scheming phase, neither the Warriors nor the Lakers made any trades as of the deadline — instead believing that they can win with their current rosters.
While both teams have been playing well as of late, it remains to be seen whether either can truly contend for an NBA championship in June.
