Golden State Has Its LeBron James Contingency Plan. It Involves Three Specific Free Agents.

The Golden State Warriors are watching LeBron James the way the rest of us watch a slow-motion car crash you can’t look away from. But they aren’t waiting around for him to make up his mind. Not even close.

According to NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, the Warriors are planning to pursue veteran center Jock Landale this offseason while also keeping tabs on scoring guards Anfernee Simons and Collin Sexton. The idea is simple: improve the bench so Stephen Curry doesn’t have to carry the second unit into deep water every single night.

League sources told Stein and Fischer the Warriors want another guard who can create his own shot off the bench or play alongside Curry and let him roam off the ball more. That’s where Simons and Sexton come in. Both are young guards who can score in bunches. Simons averaged 22.6 points for Portland last season. Sexton put up 18.7 for Utah. Either one would give Golden State something it hasn’t had consistently since Jordan Poole left town — a microwave scorer who doesn’t need Curry to spoon-feed him.

This lines up with what ClutchPoints senior NBA reporter Brett Siegel has been hearing. He noted on X that the Warriors are still exploring secondary guard options in free agency and that their interest in Simons and Sexton dates back to last month.

But here’s the thing nobody is saying out loud: adding those guys probably means saying goodbye to the LeBron dream. Golden State doesn’t have cap space. They’d likely need to use their mid-level exception to sign any of these players, and if James actually wants to come, he’d have to take a massive pay cut. Like, embarrassingly massive. The kind of discount that would make even ring-chasing historians wince.

Still, the Warriors aren’t bluffing about their interest in James. Siegel previously reported that Golden State believes it’s a legitimate landing spot if the four-time MVP leaves Los Angeles. But that’s a big if. And while everyone waits, the front office is working the phones on multiple fronts at once.

Landale would give them a big body who can rebound and shoot from distance. He played for Australia in the Olympics and spent last season with Houston. He’s not flashy, but he’s solid. And the Warriors could use solid right now more than another headline.

Whatever happens with James, one thing is clear: Golden State isn’t sitting still. Free agency season has barely started, and the Warriors are already hunting.