The final time Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry teamed up within the NBA, the end result was three NBA Finals appearances and two titles in three years. After which, a number of years after separating, they bought collectively as a part of the USA Basketball Avengers with LeBron James to steer america to a gold medal on the 2024 Paris Olympics final summer season.
So even when it appears inconceivable, one might be forgiven if considering an NBA staff that includes these three may nonetheless be fairly good for an NBA Expendables-style, one-last-job-type title run, even when all of them are going a bit grey within the beard (in LeBron’s case, actually). Nevertheless it’s additionally the kind of midseason transaction twister that will get thrown out by NBA 2K’s machine logic for being too unrealistic and a set of strikes which are almost inconceivable to work below the league’s new, extra restrictive collective bargaining settlement.
However as this weekend in basketball confirmed us, “almost inconceivable” isn’t the identical as truly inconceivable. Within the aftermath of that Lakers heist, it’s onerous in charge the Golden State Warriors for dreaming huge. In any case, if Luka Doncic can get traded to the Lakers seemingly out of nowhere, nothing is off the desk.
And effectively, dreaming huge is precisely what the Warriors are doing as a result of, in response to the newest dispatch from NBA insider Jake Fischer for The Stein Line, Golden State is letting themselves fantasize a few world the place Durant, James and Curry staff up in The Bay below Olympics coach Steve Kerr earlier than Thursday’s NBA commerce deadline:
Sources say probably the most bold thought being tossed round amongst Golden State’s decision-makers: Is there any possible pathway for the Warriors to tug off the dreamiest of outcomes and discover a technique to convey each James and Durant to The Bay?
That will require fairly the masterstroke. And whereas pulling that off at the moment stands as not possible, each from a salary-matching and asset valuation standpoint, that is the form of big-game searching that has outlined these Warriors. From their authentic Durant free company thunderbolt in 2016 … to final commerce deadline’s inquiries about James … to this previous offseason’s aggressive pursuits of each Paul George and Lauri Markkanen and, at occasions, making an attempt to amass each of them.
That’s clearly large, form of insane, and results in one huge query.
Might the Warriors truly commerce for each LeBron James and Kevin Durant?
It could be troublesome, however the reply is — form of shockingly given the hellish restrictions of the brand new CBA and all three staff’s cap conditions — truly sure.
I spent method an excessive amount of time earlier than even writing this text looking for a legally workable deal within the commerce machine and was truly ready to take action, so long as all three groups waited to consummate it till the day of the deadline, as Dennis Schröder shouldn’t be eligible to be re-aggregated in a commerce till then. There are different caveats, however legally, these groups may theoretically make the commerce under, even when it’s most likely too deranged and complex to ever get agreed to in actual life.
Could I current to you, expensive readers, probably the most unhinged commerce machine screenshot I’ve ever included in an article:
Picture through https://fanspo.com/nba/trade-machine
Now, it’s necessary to notice a pair issues right here…
- The Warriors would additionally should signal a number of gamers off the road to fill out the legally required 14 gamers for his or her roster, and each the Lakers and Suns must minimize a number of gamers. Nonetheless, in response to my (communications-degree-level) cap math, all of them ought tohave sufficient room to take action, however I’m certain SB Nation’s big range of part-time CBA specialists within the feedback will let me know if I missed one thing.
- LeBron James would additionally should be upset sufficient concerning the AD commerce to waive his no-trade clause to hitch Golden State, one thing he has indicated to date that he’s not going to do, which if true, will nonetheless solely go down as solely his second-most ruthless rejection of Warriors followers’ title desires ever.
- There would additionally clearly be draft picks being despatched out right here by the Warriors, however I didn’t even need to get into the logic of that and simply needed to see if one of these transfer was legally doable below the CBA.
… HOWEVER, in a world the place all three groups can comply with a deal this difficult, get the choose exchanges to an appropriate degree for all events and LeBron agrees to take the James & Son present to San Francisco for one final journey along with his former Finals foes, then, hypothetically, perhaps, the Warriors rumored dream may grow to be our ridiculous actuality.
It’s most likely not going to occur, however hey, as this weekend confirmed when the Lakers bought Luka Doncic for fewer first-round picks than the Spurs used to commerce for De’Aaron Fox, it by no means hurts for an NBA glamour franchise to dream huge. And if the Warriors pull off one thing this loopy to go from a play-in staff to potential title contender, perhaps they actually can say they’re gentle years forward of the remainder of the league. We’ll discover out if they will by Thursday, Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. ET when the buzzer sounds on the NBA’s transaction window.
