The Golden State Warriors had a real shot at Jaylen Brown before last season’s trade deadline. They chose not to take it. And that decision may have rippled all the way to LeBron James’ free agency.
ESPN’s Shams Charania confirmed on The Stephen A. Smith Show that the Warriors and Celtics actually talked about a Brown deal. The price? Roughly four first-round picks, plus swaps and second-rounders. Golden State said no.
“The Warriors could’ve got in the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes if they wanted to give up 4 first round picks-ish, in that range. They decided not to, from my understanding,” Charania said. “Those 2 teams, the Warriors and Celtics, did talk about a Jaylen Brown trade around the trade deadline, and it was around several first-round draft picks, potential swaps, and seconds. The Warriors decided not to go down that route and so that’s on them.”
Here’s where it gets interesting. LeBron James eventually signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, a team that had already added Brown. Multiple reports have pointed to Brown as the piece that made Philly the most appealing destination for James. The Warriors had their chance to be that team instead.
Charania didn’t stop there. He also connected the dots on another potential move — Anthony Davis from the Wizards.
“If they had went out and got that done, does that make LeBron James more viable? If the Warriors had gone out and been willing to give up several draft capital to go get an Anthony Davis from Washington, does LeBron James follow suit?” Charania said. “My understanding was if the Warriors were able to get Anthony Davis, they had as good of a chance, if not better than anyone, to get a LeBron James and I think you have to look at that in the calculus of everything.”
So the Warriors had two paths to make a run at LeBron. They didn’t take either one.
Are the Warriors already looking past Curry?
Golden State enters the 2026-27 season with Stephen Curry still playing at an All-Star level. But the front office might already be thinking about what comes next. Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard reported that Warriors GM Joe Lacob has his eye on the post-Curry future.
“What Lacob wants to do, and this might get Warriors fans mad. He wants to build the next team after Steph Curry,” Kawakami said on the TK Show. “I don’t know how possible that is, but Lacob has a very keen interest in…this organization’s going to show what it can do with Steph Curry and then after Steph Curry.”
That’s a pretty honest admission from someone close to the organization. The Warriors missed on James, passed on Brown, and apparently didn’t pull the trigger on Davis either. Now they’re sitting with a bunch of draft picks and a ticking clock on Curry’s prime.
Kawakami didn’t say the Warriors are tanking. But he did say they’re rebuilding while Curry is still in uniform. That’s a tricky line to walk. Ask the 2022 Lakers how that works out.
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