WAITING AT A traffic signal on the Las Vegas Strip in the dead heat of summer league, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr noticed someone filming him from the rear window of an adjacent car. Kerr rolled down his window to say hello. They asked about the team’s ongoing pursuit of LeBron James.
“Oh, we got him,” Kerr laughed. “Put that on Twitter.”
The clip, as predicted, found its way to the public and sparked another wave of speculation about the Warriors’ perceived place in the hunt.
“I was having a little fun,” Kerr told ESPN this week.
But it also teased a fanbase desperate to land a big name even though the actual chances at securing James had long been fading.
“I didn’t even think we were realistically in the running for LeBron,” Kerr said. “It’s just that everyone kept saying we were. It never seemed serious to me despite all the reports.”
The Warriors made an early July pitch, team sources said. Draymond Green declined his player option the day before free agency to generate financial flexibility and vacationed with James during the process. Stephen Curry communicated with James to ensure he’d welcome the pairing. Controlling owner Joe Lacob was among those around the league to send James’ agent, Rich Paul, a voice note recruiting James.
They lobbied him on the Hall of Fame spectacle of linking up with Curry, their veteran-friendly environment, an ability to hike his salary up toward the $15.1 million nontaxpayer mid-level exception and the proximity to family. There was even a back-channel exploration from James, league sources said, about the feasibility of zipping back and forth to Southern California various times during the NBA calendar, as Green and Jimmy Butler occasionally do.
But nobody within the Warriors’ orbit believed they were strongly in the mix the past couple of weeks, team sources said. Their gathered intel and waning communication told them James was leaning in a different direction.
While James conducted important late-stage conversations with various members of the Philadelphia 76ers, including head coach Nick Nurse, as ESPN’s Shams Charania reported, Kerr said he didn’t have any communication with James during the recruitment.
“We’ve been given no signs or hints it’s happening,” one Warriors front office source said 48 hours before James’ choice became official.
Because of his bargain contract demands, the holding pattern for James didn’t stall any of the Warriors’ planned business. They decided prior to free agency that they’d use their available financial tools to mostly run back the same core -- agreeing to re-sign Al Horford and extend Kristaps Porzingis on a short-term, immediately tradeable two-year, $40 million contract with only $3 million guaranteed in the second season.
In early July, after internal discussion, they opted for a reunion with De’Anthony Melton over a pursuit of Anfernee Simons at a similar two-year, $11 million price point, believing Melton better fit a backcourt need next to Curry. They had conversations with Rui Hachimura’s representatives but couldn’t have reached the two-year, $28 million contract he received from the LA Clippers unless they executed a Green paycut and Moses Moody salary dump -- which was only on the table if necessary to land James.
“This isn’t about the roster, frankly,” general manager Mike Dunleavy said in May when asked about last season’s issues. “I don’t think we came up short because of the talent on the roster. It was injuries and things we can control.”
But the reality remains. The Warriors are bringing back nearly the entirety of an aging 37-win team with durability questions at nearly every position and two starting wings in the middle stages of lengthy knee rehabs. It has generated a sense that the Warriors are content in a state of stagnation as they meekly ride out the final seasons of the Curry era, accepting a non-contention fate.
That’s a summation management would push back against, believing that its asset chest and financial flexibility -- only $34.9 million guaranteed for the 2027-28 season -- still allows them to be opportunistic while expecting better health and performance from the currently assembled team.
But if the goal is a leap back into the 2027 title conversation, it’d be unfair to pin those hopes on rookie wing Yaxel Lendeborg, the team’s most substantial offseason addition, and unrealistic to expect Butler to provide a midseason boost by returning to All-Star form fresh off ACL rehab at age 37.
“We don’t have to keep saying ‘championship, championship, championship’ every day, even though we’ve experienced that,” Curry said after last April’s elimination. “Can we build the foundation again?”
THIS WAS THE Warriors’ third failed pursuit of James in the past three years -- the previous two attempted via trade -- and their decision-making tree left with a similar sentiment from the previous two.
Team sources said they believe part of James’ hesitancy to ultimately join the Warriors is his history battling the franchise during the dynasty years and how the choice would be viewed from a legacy perspective.
“I believe there’s more appeal to playing with Steph Curry on a different franchise rather than that franchise,” one league source said.
Green said as much on his podcast Tuesday. “I ultimately don’t think Bron was ever able to get over the history, and I understand it, I get it.”
But it’s also about the lacking roster. James made it clear with his actions -- by joining the Sixers -- and words that he prioritized immediate championship contention. In his post-decision statement, which mentioned the Sixers, Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers but never the Warriors, he said the choice was about winning and not family or money.
There’s a belief that the Sixers entered the picture only because former Warriors executive Bob Myers helped swing a blockbuster trade for Jaylen Brown on July 1, boosting the supporting cast and luring James to look in their direction.
Several days prior, the Boston Celtics called the Warriors about Brown near the draft, league sources said, testing Golden State’s temperature about a trade for four first-round picks and another first-round swap in an effort to beef up the Celtics’ own offer to Milwaukee for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Warriors balked at the price and idea, which would’ve included parting with the No. 11 pick later used on Lendeborg, team sources said. The dialogue was casual and the sides never reengaged. The Celtics ended up trading Brown for two first-round picks and Paul George, a wing able to help the Celtics compete immediately as opposed to the rehabbing Butler, perhaps setting in motion Philadelphia’s acquisition of James.
The Warriors were never given any directive from James or Paul to make a specific move to secure James’ commitment, team sources said, despite directly asking. But league sources said there were at least subliminal implications that a major upgrade would drastically improve their chances at luring James.
That would’ve been particularly true with Anthony Davis, the four-time first-team All-NBA center who won a 2020 title with James in Los Angeles. But the Warriors never seriously engaged the Washington Wizards on Davis, again showing no appetite for losing Butler and shelling out the amount of draft picks (and presumed contract extension) it would’ve cost for a big-name trade, especially without a firm James commitment.
Several league insiders compared the James-plus-Davis situation to 2019 when the Oklahoma City Thunder extracted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, five first-round picks and two swaps from the Clippers for George, knowing the Clippers were also essentially trading for unrestricted free agent Kawhi Leonard (because he was requiring his new team to trade for George).
Wizards president Michael Winger was the general manager of the Clippers then and surely comprehended the type of reverse leverage he’d have on the Warriors had they come asking for Davis in an attempt to secure a James commitment. The Wizards never planned to part with Davis, and the Warriors didn’t come calling.
“You have to understand your place in the league and where everybody else is and what the future looks like,” Kerr said. “Mike is really smart and prudent. He understands the landscape. Joe’s in agreement on that. We’re all pretty much really on the same page in terms of just being wise. ... [Sometimes] not making a move can be the best thing to do for your future. And you keep stacking up good moves and eventually you pounce when you’re ready.”
Over the past couple of years, Kerr has actually been one of the louder organizational voices preaching the need to be careful when mortgaging the future for an all-out blitz at the fading present. He reiterated that sentiment in his discussion with Lacob and Dunleavy prior to his May decision to return as head coach for a 13th season.
Dunleavy and Lacob aren’t unwilling to part with future first-round picks. They put a 2025 first in the deadline deal to acquire Butler. The full cupboard of assets was on the table for Antetokounmpo at the deadline and at least a partial package of picks for Leonard, team sources said.
But it’s also clear that Warriors’ decision-makers have been careful about blasting out first-rounders in smaller deals for more marginal upgrades and have shown hesitancy to overpay to maximize the immediate.
“The path forward is to win,” Dunleavy said in a brief statement to ESPN. “Never changes.”
