Warriors' LeBron James trade considerations have happened before and again this summer

Billy Heyen

Warriors' LeBron James trade considerations have happened before and again this summer image

LeBron James has piqued the Golden State Warriors' interest before.

That's one of the main takeaways from a new ESPN story by Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelbourne.

They write that the Warriors considered making a trade offer for James in 2023-24.

They had the same thought this summer after the statement from James' agent Rich Paul ignited questions league-wide.

"A handful of teams -- including the Golden State Warriors, who tried to trade for James in 2023-24 -- considered again whether to make an offer, sources said," writes ESPN.

The story doesn't say that any team actually did make an offer.

"One Western Conference executive chalked it up to an elaborate pout because the Lakers hadn't offered James a new contract extension," ESPN writes. "Another Western Conference executive felt it was an attempt to pressure the Lakers' front office to go all-in on building the team this season and away from its strategy to keep the cap sheet as clean as possible for the summers of 2026 and 2027 after James' salary comes off the books."

MORE: Lakers lost All-Star free agent because of LeBron's 'elaborate pout'

It's fun to imagine LeBron in Golden State, teaming with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green (Jimmy Butler would likely have moved the other way in such a trade for salary reasons). It'd be a fun way to end LeBron and Steph's careers.

At this point, that ship has probably sailed, but if James ends up wanting out for real, it's clear Golden State may be interested.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle