NBA Rumors: Golden State Warriors nearly traded for LeBron James at deadline

NBA Rumors: The Golden State Warriors nearly pulled off a trade for LeBron James at the NBA Trade Deadline. What does that mean moving forward?

Looking back at the 2024 NBA Trade Deadline, both the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers are going to be remembered as two teams that elected not to make a significant move. In fact, between the two, it was only a salary dump trade by the Warriors that ended up being finalized on trade deadline day.

However, nearly a week after the trade deadline, we may know why there was no big move made by either the Lakers or Warriors. That's because one of those teams was trying to convince the other to participate in what would've ended up being remembered as arguably the biggest NBA Trade Deadline trade in league history.

According to a recent report, the Warriors were pursuing a trade for LeBron James at the deadline. In the end, though, they couldn't pursue the Lakers or LeBron to get fully on board with the idea of the mid-season trade.

What does this mean about LeBron's commitment?

I think there's a lot we can learn about LeBron's commitment to the Lakers with this recent report. From all indications, it seems that if LeBron was on board with this idea, perhaps it's something the Lakers would at least explore. There's no guarantee that they would've accepted a deal, but perhaps there would've been some real conversations.

Ultimately, it seems that LeBron is still firmly committed to the Lakers. And that has to be considered great news for a Lakers team that finds itself at a bit of a crossroads. After not making a significant upgrade at the trade deadline, the hope is that the Lakers could make up for it during the offseason.

But they'll need a commitment from LeBron first to go all-in with a move. It seems that they may have that commitment from LeBron at the moment. If LeBron wasn't willing to team up with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, you'd be hard-pressed to find many other teams that he'd be willing to join heading into the offseason.

This is not to say that circumstances can't change between now and the offseason. They certainly can. However, at least for now, this report seems to destroy any idea that LeBron could be planning his exit during the offseason.

Even though it didn't, if this trade did happen, it would've sent shockwaves across the league. This failed LeBron to the Warriors trade could go down as one of the biggest "what ifs" in NBA history.