The Los Angeles Lakers were the clear winners of last year's Luka Dončić trade, and that will still be the case if LeBron James leaves this summer to team up once again with Anthony Davis, but this time with the Warriors. Still, if that happens, it would have been made possible by what happened in February 2025, hurting LA in the process.
The Lakers want to keep LeBron, and Rob Pelinka said as much after the season ended. Golden State has been a threat, but it didn't seem like a real one, though that could change if the Warriors trade for Davis, which, as Shams Charania of ESPN said on Monday, would have to happen for them to get James.
Reporting for @SportsCenter on the Warriors ramifications after Draymond Green's surprising opt-out: pic.twitter.com/JWBYuAqGBq
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2026
LeBron, like everyone else, was blindsided by Los Angeles' decision to trade Davis for Dončić. In the blink of an eye, his time with AD was over. It didn't seem likely that the two would ever play together again, but that's the outcome Golden State is pushing for. If the Warriors do business with the Wizards, it could result in them getting James, too.
LeBron and Anthony Davis would be a package deal
You can argue that this would be a good thing for the Lakers, as it'd keep them from committing to the 41-year-old for two more seasons, allowing them to use that money to round out the roster elsewhere. Los Angeles doesn't want LeBron to leave, though.
The Lakers liked what they saw from James, Dončić, and Austin Reaves in March, but the run was short-lived due to injuries. You can understand why they want to run that back. Having LeBron as your No. 3 option is pretty good. It doesn't matter all that much that the 2026-27 season would be his 24th, as he's still very capable of contributing to winning basketball as a starter.
The last part of the sentence above could be what incentivizes him to join the Warriors. He and Davis won a title together with the Lakers in 2020, and teaming up with Steph Curry and Draymond Green to try to win another could appeal to him more than re-signing with Los Angeles.
Clearly, he has interest in playing with AD again, and we know how he feels about Curry and Green.
None of this probably would've been a talking point had the Lakers kept Davis a year and a half ago, which would've meant the Dončić trade wouldn't have happened. It's a great thing for Los Angeles that it did, but losing LeBron to the Warriors to play with AD again could be a side effect the team didn't see coming.
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