Warriors Considered Whether To Make Trade Offer For Lakers’ LeBron James

The Golden State Warriors considered whether to make a trade offer to the Los Angeles Lakers for LeBron James, according to NBA insiders Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. 

This came after James picked up his 2025-26 player option with the Lakers and Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group issued the following statement to NBA insider Shams Charania of ESPN:

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship. He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.

“We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what’s best for him.”

The Warriors tried to trade for James during the 2023-24 season. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are close with the leading scorer in NBA history. 

James turns 41 next season. The four-time MVP, four-time champion and four-time Finals MVP is coming off an amazing campaign. He averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.6 blocks in 2024-25 and made the All-NBA Second Team. 

The Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. The franchise is building around Luka Doncic, who is only 26 years old. 

If James requests a trade, he can pick where he wants the Lakers to trade him because he has a no-trade clause. 

However, James’ salary makes it very, very hard for a contending team to trade for him. The NBA legend will make $52.6 million next season in the final year of his contract. 

James signed with the Lakers in 2018. He guided the franchise to the 2020 championship against the Miami Heat at the Walt Disney World bubble.