The Golden State Warriors were deep in negotiations this weekend with the Chicago Bulls over a trade for Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic. But after the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Luka Doncic, the Warriors’ plans got more ambitious. And way less realistic.
Warriors decision-makers were scheming about whether they could add Kevin Durant or LeBron James in a deadline deal — or both! There are of course complications. First, LeBron has a no-trade clause. He rejected a trade to the Warriors last year. He also declined to consider the Warriors when he was a free agent this summer. It’s hard to imagine that he’d prefer to go to a team with a worse record that didn’t just add one of the top five players in the NBA in Luka Doncic.
Durant chose to leave the Warriors in 2019, even after three straight trips to the NBA Finals. Is he going to decide he wants to return to a 24-24 team with an older Steph Curry, that still has Draymond Green, the guy who delivered a profane tirade about him on the court in 2018? The same guy who got furious last season when Durant said he hoped Green “got the help he needs”? Unless Durant left over a personality conflict with Bob Myers (unlikely), all the same people are still in Golden State from when Durant was on the team five years ago.
The other star the Warriors are pursuing is Jimmy Butler, but he communicated that he wouldn’t sign an extension with the team. Since Butler’s season-long work slowdown seems to be about his desire for a new contract, those trade talks have reportedly stalled.
It’s hard to believe that the Warriors realistically think they could land James or Durant. Say what you will about the relative merits of LaVine and Vucevic, at least they were gettable in a trade. Or they were until the Bulls sent LaVine to the Sacramento Kings as part of the De’Aaron Fox trade.
It feels like this is a story leaked to make it look like the Warriors are truly active in upgrading the team, when they aren’t pursuing realistic options. Butler’s value has dropped so low that he probably could be had, but exchanging Andrew Wiggins (plus other stuff) for a 35-year-old Butler might not even improve the team for this year, let alone the future. If the team is simply trying to get off off the remaining money and years on Wiggins’ deal, maybe.
Chris Haynes says LeBron isn’t going anywhere at the deadline, to no one’s surprise except perhaps the Lacob family.
