The dominoes are falling everywhere except for the Golden State Warriors.
Stephen Curry and the Warriors thought they had a legitimate chance to sign LeBron James this offseason, and it appears as though they were counting on that transpiring.
Longstanding Warriors veteran Draymond Green even opted out of his $27.7 million player option, seemingly in a move to give the Warriors the financial flexibility to pursue James.
But 25 days after announcing that he would be departing from the Los Angeles Lakers after eight seasons with the team and an NBA championship, 41-year-old James joined the Philadelphia 76ers on a bargain two-year, $8 million deal.
He now teams up with former MVP Joel Embiid and Jaylen Brown, who was traded earlier this offseason from the Boston Celtics, with a strong backcourt in two-time NBA All-Star Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe.
For the Warriors, they are stuck in no man’s land.
Upon hearing of the news that James had signed with Philly, Curry himself stated from teammate Moses Moody’s youth camp, “That’s why you don’t envision anything until it happens. There’s a lot of moving parts.”
While reports suggest that the team will re-sign Green to a near $28 million deal, there is very little else on the roster that can help give Curry one last run at a championship.
While Jimmy Butler is on the team, he won’t be returning to action for a while after sustaining a torn ACL back in January.
Now 38-years-old, and not getting any younger, if Curry really wants to add to his collection of four NBA rings, then he may either have to force the front office’s hand, or find a new home after 18 seasons in the Bay Area.
After all, he is eligible to sign another contract extension next month, but the question is, will he want to?
Curry should force a trade to the Spurs
Could he even force his way out entirely, and request a trade elsewhere and to a championship contender, for the first time in his career?
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Why not the San Antonio Spurs, who have a generational talent on their hands in Victor Wembanyama and are fresh off reaching the 2026 NBA Finals with a surrounding young core of Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle?
Well Bill Simmons believes it is a blockbuster move that Curry should look to make.
“It’s not a ring chase, but what if San Antonio, with [De’Aaron] Fox and all the picks they have just said, ‘f*** it’ and went to Golden State and said, ‘we’ll do Fox. You put the picks together in any way you want for a couple years of Steph here’,” Simmons proposed.
“And now we’re trying to acquire 2024 Olympics Steph, and he goes to San Antonio, and tries to grab a couple more [championships]. It’s pretty interesting.”
Furthermore, in light of reports that Warriors general manager Joe Lacob’s philosophy is changing, with the brass perhaps thinking ahead to constructing the roster for life after Curry, the 18-year veteran could now ultimately decide now is the right time to move on.
“What Lacob wants to do, and this might get Warriors fans mad, but he wants to build the next team after Steph Curry,” Bay Area reporter Tim Kawakami said on The TK Show.
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“I don’t know how possible that is, but Lacob has a very keen interest in ‘This organization is going to show what it can do with Steph Curry and then after Steph Curry.’ I don’t think it’s going to be as good myself, but that’s what he wants to do.”
Although Curry is expected to sign a two-year extension that may keep him with the only organization he’s ever been with during his NBA career, until the end of his career, the flip side is that we live in a world of ‘never say never’.
Ultimately, if the 12-time All-Star wants to get more rings to add to his surefire Hall of Fame legacy, then he may have to make the difficult decision to leave Golden State and join a contender.
He holds ALL the leverage.
