The Warriors are ready to lean into their identity as the old guys giving it one last ride.
It was the identity of their team last season, but that consisted of Al Horford, Jimmy Butler and, to some degree, Kristaps Porzingis. However, with an offseason to really have at it, Golden State is trying to just go futher in that direction by luring in two big-name former Lakers.
On Sunday, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports laid out the Warriors’ hopes of trading for Anthony Davis to help lure LeBron James to San
Francisco for an All-Uncs superteam.
The Warriors are attempting to trade for Wizards big Anthony Davis and then sign Lakers free agent forward LeBron James, according to multiple league sources.
A trade for Davis would have to include Jimmy Butler, who is on an expiring $57 million contract while recovering from a torn ACL. The Warriors would also have to include draft capital — they have two future firsts and four first-round swaps to work with in any deal.
Sources say the Warriors hope adding Davis would help lure LeBron from Los Angeles to the Bay Area once free agency officially opens on June 30. The pitch would be simple: reunite with AD, team up with Steph Curry and Draymond Green, play for Steve Kerr, and chase one more championship with a roster of legends.
If it felt a little far-fetched, then it became a little more real on Monday when Draymond Green opted out of his contract to give the team flexibility to make the moves for AD and LeBron.
There are few things the Warriors have loved more in recent years than chasing stars. And there are few things they’ve more consistently done in that time frame than strike out on them.
From Giannis Antetokounmpo to Pascal Siakam to OG Anunoby, the Warriors always have big visions of what they want to do but rarely does it happen. That being said, this one isn’t quite the same.
They aren’t chasing stars in their prime, which could make it more possible. That being said, this all hinges on the Wizards being open to trading Davis for an injured Jimmy Butler who won’t play until late in the season at the earliest.
Considering Washington just gave a lot of money to Trae Young, it doesn’t seem like they’re interested in tanking anymore. It seems unlikely that the Wizards would trade for Davis, then never have him actually suit up. Is a trade package of future Warriors picks really that appealing to them if they’re interested in winning now?
And all that comes before needing to recruit LeBron to the Bay. Perhaps they’ve been given signals that doing all this will be enough to sign him, but it still seems like a gamble. And that’s to say nothing of if the Warriors would actually be contenders with a quartet of LeBron, AD, Green and Steph Curry.
For now, it’s a bit of a pipe dream, but it certainly seems like one the Warriors are chasing.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
