The leverage play in LeBron James’ free agency has already begun with the Warriors. Among the rumors, LeBron James was reported to be the one asking the Warriors to trade for Anthony Davis before he commits to them in free agency.
So all signs indicated that this deal may not be happening, as the Warriors were reportedly not willing to take the risk on Anthony Davis. Ramona Shelburne, ESPN’s senior NBA writer, clarified that this seems to be a sequencing issue and not a broken dream of the Warriors’ front office to unite Anthony Davis and LeBron James in San Francisco.
“From what I understand, this is a sequencing issue. They would want a commitment from LeBron James before they would go make a move for somebody like Anthony Davis. As I understand it now, there haven’t been any substantive conversations between the Warriors and the Washington Wizards about Anthony Davis, yet,” said Shelburne in her appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today.
“Because of course, Anthony Davis will be looking for a long-term deal here. This would not just be for the two years left on his contract.”So far, everyone is on board with the two-year plan for the Warriors. Stephen Curry has one more year left and is expected to sign an extension. Steve Kerr also signed back on for a short window.”
“So, are you going to extend Anthony Davis? If you pursue him in a trade, you have to be willing to extend him further,” clarified Shelburne.
Several sources earlier today suggested that the Warriors’ dream scenario of a Big Four with Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Draymond Green is dead. On one hand, the Wizards, who were initially reported to be open to listening to trade offers for Davis, suddenly shut the doors.
“The Washington Wizards are not interested in trading 10-time NBA All-Star forward Anthony Davis and are not listening to trade offers for him, a source told ESPN and Andscape. Another NBA team exec says Wizards GM Will Dawkins is a huge fan of AD,” wrote Marc J. Spears on X.
On the other hand, the Warriors were reportedly not willing to risk their draft capital to get rid of Jimmy Butler’s contract and thought they could still convince James to join without Davis in their plans.
“The scenario in which LeBron James and Anthony Davis reunite in San Francisco appears to have died on the vine. The Warriors are now signaling that Davis isn’t in their plans, according to league sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe ongoing deliberations,” reported Sam Amick of The Athletic.
In essence, the Warriors will have to attach draft capital to get rid of Jimmy Butler’s contract, and their willingness to take the risk of attaching any draft capital to Jimmy Butler’s contract to convince the Wizards to give them an injury-prone player’s contract seems to be conditional upon LeBron James ‘ commitment to join the team.
The 41-year-old Lakers veteran has taken the first step in potentially making that commitment, which is telling the Lakers he will not be back next season but will be playing in the league elsewhere.
But James likely still needs time to assess his options with other teams. All eyes are now on LeBron James to make what could be the final free agency decision of his career before retirement.
