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Just imagine LeBron James and Stephen Curry on the same team. Absolutely ridiculous, right? That probably won't stop LeBron from trying to recruit the Golden State Warriors icon, even with just a 0.0001% chance of it actually happening.
There was some faint buzz on the idea back in March during the 2021 All-Star break. ESPN's Brian Windhorst claimed the Lakers star's flowery words on his Warriors rival were more than just thoughtless praise.
“I thought it was hilarious over All-Star Weekend, LeBron praising Steph up and down … how much he loves his game, how much he respects him. LeBron has obviously put the full-court press on, not the full-court press, but LeBron has obviously begun the recruiting of Steph, just in the event that he wouldn't extend and that somehow he would become a free agent and that the Lakers would have a swing at him.”
But in reality, Stephen Curry and the Warriors parting just seems inconceivable. The 2-time MVP has spent all 12 seasons of his NBA career playing for Golden State. If there's any one player who's representative of his franchise in today's NBA, it's Steph for the Warriors.
Joe Lacob certainly thinks so too. The Warriors owner sat down with The Athletic's Tim Kawakami and was asked about LeBron James putting on his recruiting cap to make a bid for Stephen Curry's services down the line. Lacob made it clear that even King James's best efforts wouldn't concern him.
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“I’m certainly not worried about the guy you mentioned recruiting him. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Lacob did speak out on the idea of Stephen Curry deciding to leave the Warriors some time in the future. While they're certainly trying to lay the groundwork for that not to happen, he admits they wouldn't bar him from doing so.
“Look, Steph Curry, if he really wanted to leave at the end of his contract, he’s a free agent, he’s earned the right, he can do it,” the Warriors owner said. “I said that with Kevin Durant. I’m still friends with Kevin Durant and I still really like him. And I will always love him for what he did for this franchise. By the way, he took less money when he was here. He really helped us. We were able to get a couple of other players. … Players don’t usually do that and he did that. So I have great respect and admiration for that for Kevin. And I would for Steph no matter what he does, too. He’s done a lot for us, we’ve done a lot for him.”
The Warriors will do all they can to ensure Stephen Curry swishes triples in the Bay Area for the rest of his days. But if we've learned two things from Joe Lacob, it's that Curry can leave if he wants to, but it better not be to play alongside LeBron James.
