The Warriors are still chasing LeBron James, and they don’t seem interested in backing off anytime soon.
Golden State has spent the offseason exploring every possible angle to land the four-time NBA champion, with the push reportedly starting when Stephen Curry met with James about the idea of joining the Warriors. NBA insider Brett Siegel said the conversation around that pairing has only grown more real in recent weeks.
“Pairing him with Stephen Curry is going to be something that the Warriors are going to pursue over the next few weeks… It seemed very doubtful, it seemed low percentage, now it’s kind of questionable. Now there’s going to be some legs to this… That same source told us that Steph is planning on meeting and talking with LeBron about potentially joining the Warriors over the course of the next few weeks leading up to free agency,” NBA insider Brett Siegel said.
James has kept his free agency timeline close to the vest, and even his agent, Rich Paul, says he doesn’t know when the decision is coming. Paul said James is still sorting through everything on his own.
“There is none. I wish I knew.
He’s taking his time. He’s really evaluating things taking his time.
I’ve really left him alone. Play golf, do the things you need to do.
He understands where things are. When he’s ready he’ll let me know,” Paul said.
Paul didn’t give away where James is headed, but he did make it clear that, from a pure basketball standpoint, a Warriors-James pairing would be a nightmare for opponents.
“If we’re talking strictly basketball, you don’t want to play them. You definitely don’t want to play them in a playoff series.
You don’t want to get to the trade deadline and have little surface edges type of moves made. You talk about just basketball brilliance of mind and experience, production.
It’s pretty tough, Max,” Paul stated.
That kind of praise won’t quiet the speculation around Golden State. If anything, it gives the Warriors more reason to believe they’re still in the hunt while James remains the biggest name on the market and continues to deliberate.
For now, the wait goes on. And until James makes his call, the Warriors are going to keep looming as one of the most talked-about possibilities in free agency.
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