Mike Dunleavy Jr. Says Warriors Are Close to Finalizing the Roster. LeBron Is Still Out There.

LeBron James is still weighing his options. And Mike Dunleavy Jr. isn’t sweating it.

The Warriors general manager showed up to Summer League on Tuesday in a good mood. He watched his younger guys play Memphis. Then he sat down with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and dropped a line that got people talking.

“I think we’re getting close to finalizing the roster, so we’re looking forward to that finish point,” Dunleavy said.

McMenamin followed up. Asked about Draymond Green. Dunleavy just smiled and said, “We’ll see, we’ll see, we shall see.”

That’s GM-speak. But if you read between the lines, the Warriors are clearly leaving room to do something bigger. The something everyone assumes is LeBron James.

Here’s the situation. Draymond Green declined his $27.7 million player option for next season. That gave Golden State more cap flexibility. The expectation is still that Green re-signs. But the move was widely seen as the organization keeping a pathway open to chase LeBron.

Shams Charania reported Tuesday that LeBron’s free agency focus right now is on the Cavaliers, Heat, and 76ers. The Warriors are still in the mix. But the Eastern Conference feels like a more realistic landing spot for a 41-year-old chasing a fifth ring.

You can see why. The Warriors have Stephen Curry. That matters. LeBron has said publicly he’d love to play with him. And he’s already living in California after four years with the Lakers. The logistics aren’t the problem.

The problem is the competition. The Thunder are young and terrifying. The Spurs just added a generational talent. And Golden State’s core is getting older. Injuries have been a recurring issue. If LeBron joins and the Warriors need him to carry the load for weeks at a time, that’s not exactly a recipe for winning in June.

Philadelphia and Cleveland both offer ready-made rosters where LeBron wouldn’t have to do everything. The Cavs are young. The Sixers have Embiid and Maxey. Those are different kinds of appealing.

Still. Dunleavy doesn’t sound defeated. He sounds like a guy who knows something might still break his way. Or at least like a guy who isn’t going to show his hand in July.

Either way, the Warriors haven’t closed the door. And for now, that’s enough to keep the rumor mill spinning.