Los Angeles Lakers fans hoping for a LeBron James return in 2026-27 weren't exactly thrilled when ESPN's Brian Windhorst, during a recent TV appearance, gave that outcome a 51% chance of happening.
On Tuesday, Windhorst returned to the public eye and discussed more LeBron-Lakers stuff, this time on The Pat McAfee show. And while Windy didn't change his stance on the dreaded 51% situation, he did say something interesting about the Golden State Warriors.
LeBron James already has a strong connection with Steph Curry and Steve Kerr from the Olympics
"If it doesn't work out with the Lakers [for LeBron], I'd watch the Warriors," Windhorst said. "He played with Steph Curry and Steve Kerr [at] the Olympics. You know he's close with Draymond Green."
LeBron to the Warriors?!
Plenty of pro-LeBron Lakers fans will scoff at the idea that this 'Olympic connection' offered here by Windhorst is some type of valuable variable in James' free-agent outcome. But it's not nothing.
Nor is Windhorst the first person to link LeBron to Golden State. A few days ago, The Ringer's Bill Simmons embarked on an entire argument as to why the Warriors would be the best thing for LeBron's career at this point. Simmon basically explained that since James won't be joining a contender, he might as well choose the biggest marketing/visibility opportunity, which would be to team up with Curry on the Warriors.
Simmons was operating under the assumption that only the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are viable contenders in the West moving forward (in other words, not the Lakers, for our purposes here). Simmons also asserted in the same discourse that Golden State could and should trade for Anthony Davis to create an "Avengers" type situation in 2026-27 ... Interesting, if not a tad far-fetched.
The Lakers don't have a big enough financial pull with LeBron James for the Warriors to be ruled out
If the Lakers were operating with a ton of cap space this summer and could offer James whatever salary figure he desired, the Warriors wouldn't even really be a talking point. He'd be headed back to LA.
But since that's not the case with the Lakers (who are going to pay Austin Reaves near-max money and have other roster needs), other variables do come into play when discussing LeBron's decision. James' relationship with Curry and Draymond, as well as his familiarity with playing for Steve Kerr, can't be tossed aside as irrelevant facts. In actuality, these details would be front and center if and when LeBron did end up bolting for the Bay Area.
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