LeBron James and Draymond Green are spending time together at an undisclosed location this week. Shams Charania broke that news on Stephen A. Smith’s show, and it’s the kind of detail that gets people talking when one of those guys is a free agent and the other plays for the Warriors.
James is an unrestricted free agent after deciding to move on from the Los Angeles Lakers following eight seasons. He just finished his 23rd NBA season, which is a record nobody’s touching anytime soon. At 41 years old he played 60 games this past season and averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds. In the playoffs those numbers ticked up to 23.2 points and 7.3 assists.
Teams are lining up. The Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors are all reportedly on his radar. And the Warriors part is where Green comes in. If you’re LeBron and you want to chase another ring at this stage of your career, you look at a core of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and yourself and you think about what that could do.
The Warriors went 37-45 last season. Tenth place in the West. They won a play-in game against the Clippers and then lost to the Suns. That’s not a contender. But adding LeBron James changes the math completely. Even at 41 he’s still one of the best players in the league, and the Warriors have shown they can retool around stars when the situation calls for it.
What LeBron Is Looking For
He wants to be on a title contender. That’s been the consistent thread through every report about his free agency. The Warriors would need significant improvements beyond just adding him, but the fit with Curry and Green is intriguing on paper. Green and LeBron have been close for years. They’ve talked about playing together before. This week’s meetup doesn’t mean a deal is done or anything close to it. But it’s not nothing either.
Charania didn’t reveal the location. He just said LeBron and Draymond are spending time together with friends and family. That could mean a lot of things. It could mean nothing. In NBA free agency though, where stars recruiting stars is part of the game, these little details tend to matter more than people give them credit for.
Whatever happens next, the league is watching. LeBron’s decision will shape not just one franchise but the balance of power in the West. And Green being in the middle of it is exactly the kind of subplot that makes the offseason interesting.
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