Philadelphia players celebrate with Joel Embiid after he scored 70 points/from Philadelphia's twitter '76
Seeing LeBron James and Stephen Curry team up on the same team is considered a fantasy for many NBA fans, and last week Golden State wanted to make that dream a reality.
According to an ESPN report, on the last day of the trade window last week there were talks with the Lakers regarding the transfer of LeBron to the Warriors, but the team from Los Angeles and LeBron James himself preferred to continue together in the city of angels.
As befits a deal of this magnitude, the contacts were conducted at the highest levels and talks took place directly between the two owners - Joe Laikov of Golden State and Gene Bass of the Lakers.
The Warriors were ready to make an offer to the Lakers, but were rejected even earlier.
Laikov asked Bass to understand whether the frustration LeBron showed publicly regarding the situation of the Lakers could be interpreted as an opening for trade talks, Bass said she had no intention of discussing a trade and that she needed to find out what the star's wishes were.
The one who tried to execute the move was Draymond Green, whose agent Rich Paul is also James' agent.
Green is the one who encouraged owner Lykov to talk to his counterpart Bass and he did send his message to Rich Paul to try to convince LeBron to make the sensational move.
LeBron has a player option for next season with the Lakers in the amount of $51.4 million, and he will decide whether to exercise or become a free agent.
There is a likely scenario where he declines the option, yet remains with the Lakers with a new contract that is even more economically upgraded.
However, teams like Golden State and even Philadelphia will try to see if he can be convinced to leave Los Angeles after six years.
The Lakers and Warriors were not active in terms of trades in the last days of the window, but Los Angeles nevertheless got stronger with the signing of Spencer Dinwiddie who was cut from Toronto after being transferred to them from Brooklyn.
The two teams are close to each other in the West, with the Lakers in ninth place and the Warriors in tenth place.
If the situation remains this way, James and Curry will meet in the play-in tournament for a battle where the loser will lose a chance to qualify for the playoffs.
More on the same topic:
LeBron James
Stephen Curry
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Lakers