LeBron James has one more season remaining on his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, who fell short of the playoffs during a disastrous 2021-22 campaign.
The tumultuous state of the franchise already has the NBA world questioning the 37-year-old superstar’s next move. While no outsiders know James’ thought process, Colin Cowherd believes LeBron’s preference is “obvious.”
During Tuesday’s episode of The Herd, the FS1 radio host said James wants to team up with his former rival, the Golden State Warriors. As Cowherd sees it, James is too smart to stick with the Lakers, and recent Twitter support of Stephen Curry leads him to think LeBron wants to link up with the two-time scoring champion.
“To me, it feels obvious,” Cowherd said. “He’s not just suddenly interested in Steph. He sees the dysfunction. He sees the roster. He sees the [Russell] Westbrook salary-cap issue. He sees Anthony Davis’ health. He’s gonna throw it out there, again and again and again, how much he’d like to play with Steph and the Warriors.”
Cowherd also pointed to “another wave of stars” in James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody along with strong ownership and head coach Steve Kerr. Although James led the Lakers to a championship two years ago, Cowherd thinks their contention window has closed.
“Forget winning a championship next year,” Cowherd said. “That’s not going to happen. They can’t compete for it, and LeBron knows it.”
James is certainly familiar with the Warriors, as he faced them in four consecutive NBA Finals as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won one of those encounters, overcoming a 3-1 deficit to defeat a squad that went 73-9 during the 2015-16 regular season.
It wouldn’t be the first time Golden State added an MVP to a conference champion. After James bested them in 2016, the Warriors signed Kevin Durant and won back-to-back titles.
Golden State needed the perfect storm to add Durant, so a lot would need to fall in place to bring LeBron to Silicon Valley. Yet it’s certainly an intriguing possibility for NBA fans, and a terrifying one for the rest of the league.