LeBron James To Golden State: More Than Just A Pipe Dream?

Do you like time travel? I know I do. Let’s set the clocks back four years, shall we?

Boom!

We’re back in the year 2010. The Los Angeles Lakers are one week removed from defeating the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. John Wall was just selected with the 1^st overall pick by the Washington Wizards. LeBron James has yet to officially become a free agent, but he will on July 1^st at 12:01 am. At this point in time, all we know is that six franchises are going to make a pitch to him to join their team: Cleveland, New York, Chicago, Miami, New Jersey and the Los Angeles Clippers.

It certainly looks like the choice is going to be Cleveland, New York or Chicago. Immediately after the Cavaliers were upset by the Boston Celtics in Round 2 of the Playoffs, Bill Simmons wrote that he expects that LeBron will probably be playing in one of those three cities next season and for the next few seasons beyond that. Still, LeBron will meet with three more teams because, well, why not? He’s the MVP of the league and why wouldn’t he want to sit back and soak it all in as very, very wealthy men plead with him to join their team.

Miami has South Beach and the appeal of playing with Dwyane Wade. Los Angeles has Hollywood and the appeal of teaming with Blake Griffin when he finally steps on the court next season. New Jersey has LeBron’s buddy Jay-Z and the appeal of a new Russian owner—who may or may not have ordered some mafia style hits on rival businessmen in his home country— that will probably throw all kinds of money around. Sure, you could make a somewhat compelling case for any of the three, but it’s really, really, REALLY unlikely that he doesn’t end up in Cleveland, Chicago or New York…

Boom!

We’re back in 2014. For multiple reasons, thank God. In case something went wrong during the trip back and you don’t recall what has happened for the last four years, LeBron “took his talents to South Beach,” the Heat went to four consecutive NBA Finals and they won two of them. Now LeBron is once again on the verge of becoming a free agent and teams are lining up to woo him and plead with him to join their team, again.

The reason why we briefly traveled back in time to June 26^th, 2010, was because I needed to remind everyone how inconceivable it seemed at the time that LeBron James would be a member of the Miami Heat just two weeks later. On May 14^th, 2010, Bill Simmons didn’t even list Miami as a possible destination. From late-June through the initial meetings,it seemed like the Chicago Bulls were the leaders in the race for LeBron. Miami came out of nowhere. It was just about the 11^th hour when Stephen A. Smith broke the news that LeBron and Chris Bosh joining Dwyane Wade in Miami was a “done deal.”

Perhaps LeBron and future Heat teammates Wade and Bosh made a pact during the 2008 Summer Olympics that they would join forces as teammates somewhere down the line. Even if you subscribe to that theory, we still didn’t know about it until last minute. Miami was a dark horse candidate for weeks and weeks before it came to fruition that they would be the choice. And adding Bosh into the mix too was an interesting kicker. LeBron’s 2010 Free Agency tour taught us a lot of things about the inner-workings of the NBA, and it helped shaped the league in many ways. It’s your call whether you believe that it was for better or worse, but one thing it definitely showed was that even if something looks completely and utterly unlikely compared to the most likely results, you can’t rule it out.

In all likelihood, LeBron will keep his talents in South Beach and Pat Riley will restructure some contracts and rebuild the roster so the Heat will still be atop the lowly Eastern Conference. With the best basketball player in the world on the roster, that shouldn’t be too difficult. Remember though, in all likelihood LeBron was going to either re-sign with Cleveland, or bolt for New York or Chicago. At least that’s what we thought on June 26^th, 2010. For Heat fans or fans of potential super teams, this only seemed like a foolishly non-sensical pipe dream.

For Warriors fans and myself—someone who identifies first as an NBA fan, second as a LeBron James fan, and third as a Stephen Curry fan—LeBron James joining the Warriors appears as if it is only a pipe dream right now. This could change over the next few days. Again, it is still a 100,000/1 longshot, but if four things happen over the course of the next two weeks, Golden State is just as much in the running for LeBron as any other team not located in South Florida is.

1: The Warriors need to trade for Kevin Love and if that means they need to give up Klay Thompson, then so be it. Look, I like Klay Thompson. I think he has a ton of upside—pardon me, I’m in NBA Draft mode; it’s just a matter of time until I go on about someone’s wingspan—and as I wrote the other day, I understand why the Warriors would be hesitant and try to make a move for Love without including Thompson in the package. That’s out the window if they want to make a play for LeBron. The idea of being patient, as I suggested earlier this week, is also out the window. Bob Myers needs to make that trade even if he needs to include his unborn children in the deal.

If you don’t believe that Golden State will trade for Kevin Love then you might as well stop reading now. LeBron James isn’t going to Golden State without Love there. It’s just not happening. Even if you and I could agree that LeBron with Curry, Thompson, Lee and Bogut is a better starting five than LeBron, with Wade, Bosh, Chalmers and Lewis/Battier/Haslem, he isn’t going to jump ship unless a proverbial Big Three is in place.

2: Dwyane Wade needs to not opt out of his contract, thus hamstringing Miami’s cap space. Seriously, don’t rule this out. I’ve heard the rumors that Wade will opt out and sign a contract that is more favorable to Miami—maybe something of the 4-year, $60 million variety—but I’m not totally sold. I don’t think it’s out of the question that Wade doesn’t opt out. And if he doesn’t that means Miami doesn’t have nearly the sort of cap space they’ll need to upgrade their team.

3: The Warriors need to move some guys around and not take back any salary. I don’t care what anyone says, Miami would not take part in a sign and trade if LeBron James requested one. Ain’t gonna happen. Pat Riley would definitely play hardball and be uncooperative, even if it meant potentially losing LeBron for nothing. Therefore, Golden State is going to need to clear out the cap space necessary to sign LeBron. Andre Iguodala… Harrison Barnes… we hope you enjoyed your stay in Oakland. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.

4: Finally, the Warriors would need to get a meeting with LeBron and make the best pitch. Oddly enough, this is probably the easiest step in the plan. A potential Stephen Curry/LeBron James/Kevin Love Big Three is far more potent than any other potential/semi-realistic trio LeBron James might join. Additionally, the Warriors would have a rim protecting center (Andrew Bogut), a young GM willing to make big moves and acquire the right pieces, a coach trying to build an offensive system similar to the NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs, and a rabidly passionate home crowd, perhaps their biggest edge over Miami.

As it would stand, Golden State would be going to war with LeBron, Curry, Love, Bogut, Draymond Green, Ray Allen (Whether he’s in Miami or Kuwait, Ray Allen will be on the same team as LeBron James next season—that’s a fact) and some other low salary players. If you’re eager to criticize the Warriors ability to build a team around that nucleus then you need to be closer attention to what Miami’s supporting cast looked like. It was full of mid-level exceptions and veteran minimum contracts. They made four straight NBA Finals.

Don’t count on LeBron James joining the Golden State Warriors, but don’t just dismiss it as a foolishly non-sensical pipe dream either. Crazy things happen in the NBA all the time. Just ask LeBron.

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