LeBron James is leaving the Los Angeles Lakers. Both sides confirmed it. He hits free agency, and that opens the door for something the NBA has teased for years: Stephen Curry and LeBron James sharing a jersey. The Golden State Warriors want it. The league wants it. And now it might actually happen.
But here’s the thing. That Warriors roster is old. Really old. Curry is 38. Draymond Green hasn’t signed his new deal yet and he’s 36. Jimmy Butler is pushing 37 and coming off an injury. And LeBron? He turns 43 next season — 22-time All-Star, sure, but 43 is 43. Add Kristaps Porzingis to the mix and the injury concerns start piling up fast.
Richard Jefferson played with LeBron in Cleveland. He knows what that combination of talent and experience looks like. And he says, basically, don’t write them off.
“If they can get to game 83 healthy, then they have a chance to make some noise,” Jefferson said on ESPN’s NBA Today. “Those are scary hours. I don’t care how old they are. That basketball IQ, that knowledge, especially if you can get to the postseason and Game 83, is scary. The reason why it’s scary is there are no back-to-backs in the postseason. But they’ve got to get there and that’s a long seven months.”
Game 83, for anyone not tracking, is playoff Game 1. Jefferson’s point is simple: the regular season is a grind for a team this old, but once the playoffs start, the schedule opens up. No back-to-backs. More rest between games. And four future Hall of Famers who have seen everything the NBA can throw at them.
The talent on that roster would be ridiculous. Curry, LeBron, Butler, Green, Porzingis. The collective basketball IQ would be off the charts. The clutch gene? They’ve got it in multiples. Experience in high-leverage moments? More than almost any team in league history.
But getting to the postseason healthy is the hard part. Seven months of regular-season basketball with a roster that averages, what, 38 years old? The Warriors would essentially be asking their stars to stay on the court for 82 games plus playoffs. That’s a lot of miles on a lot of old legs.
Crazier things have happened. The 2020 Lakers were old and won the bubble. The 2011 Mavericks were ancient by NBA standards and took down the Heat. Golden State would have to find some kind of fountain of youth routine, or at least manage minutes carefully enough that nobody breaks down before May.
But if they do get there healthy? Jefferson thinks that’s the scary part. And honestly, he might be right.
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