Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry are two of the most accomplished players still active in the NBA. Between the two of them, they have combined for eight NBA championships, 32 All-Star appearances, six MVP awards and three scoring titles.
James and Curry are also linked to one another in the sense that they faced off on the league’s grandest stage for four years in a row. They battled in the NBA Finals from 2015 through 2018. Curry’s Warriors came out on top in all but one of those matchups.
There has also been some chatter about the idea of them teaming up in the NBA at some point, and according to a report, the Warriors have called the Lakers on more than one occasion across the last 18 months with the goal of pairing James with Curry.
“I’m told that the Warriors have called the Lakers on multiple occasions over the past 18 months to see whether there is any trade pathway to pairing James with Stephen Curry, who roughly a year ago at this time was teaming with LeBron for the United States senior men’s national team on its run to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics,” NBA insider Jake Fischer wrote. “After all those NBA Finals clashes. James and Curry were said to greatly enjoy their experience as teammates on the international stage … with Golden State’s Steve Kerr, of course, serving as their Olympic coach.”
The clock is likely ticking on Golden State to pair the two all-time greats together, as it’s worth questioning how much longer James will stick around in the top basketball league on the planet. He’s already the NBA’s oldest player and set to turn 41 years old in December.
It even appears to be within the realm of possibility that the coming 2025-26 campaign will be James’ last in the NBA. But if he keeps playing beyond it, it’s worth noting that he is currently scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026.
Maybe James and Curry could add to their ring totals prior to retirement by spending the twilight of their pro careers as teammates on the Warriors. Even though both players are long in the tooth by NBA standards, they’re still among the elite players in the league.
Curry, who is 37 himself, is on the heels of averaging 24.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game with the Warriors in the 2024-25 campaign, while James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game in Los Angeles a season ago.
As much as some fans would probably like to see James end his career with the storied Lakers franchise, that door may be closing, particularly if he opts to continue his playing career beyond this season. Buzz linking him to the Warriors may increase in that case.