Bullet point summary by AI
- One NBA franchise is preparing a blockbuster move that would create the league’s oldest potential superteam.
- The plan faces major obstacles beyond just the health questions of its core four stars.
- A deep playoff run this season could hinge on roster depth that may not exist for this aging core.
The Golden State Warriors are reportedly gearing up for a blockbuster splash this week.
On Sunday night, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports reported that the Warriors are hoping to reunite LeBron James and Anthony Davis by trading for the Wizards big man and signing James in free agency. On Monday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Warriors forward Draymond Green declined his $27.6 million player option to open up “the flexibility for such a possibility.”
“Team sources have indicated for weeks a planned pursuit of James via free agency, but early intel told them that James was likely to return to the Los Angeles Lakers,” Charania added. “Negotiations with Los Angeles in the lead-up to Tuesday’s free agency, however, have gone nowhere, appearing to crack open the door.”
If you’re getting 2003-04 Lakers vibes, you aren’t the only one.
As the rest of the league doubles down on youth and depth, the Warriors are seemingly trying to put together the oldest roster in the league. It’s a bold and perhaps necessary gambit in their attempt to win a fifth championship with Stephen Curry before he retires, but it’s likely to end in disaster even if they pull it off.
The DNP Warriors
It’s easy to see why the Warriors would be interested in putting together this Big Four.
In his age-41 season, LeBron still averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game. He also showed the ability to downshift into a complementary role, which allowed Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves to operate on the ball more frequently.
Under head coach Steve Kerr, the Warriors have never believed in a heliocentric offense. Their relentless player movement is the hallmark of Kerr’s system. James’ passing ability would fit like a glove with that, particularly alongside another adept facilitator in Green.
Davis, meanwhile, would be unlike any big man whom the Warriors have ever had alongside Curry. He’s averaged at least 20 points, 11 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in each of his past four seasons. Davis isn’t much of a threat from 3-point range, but he’s still a dominant interior presence who could give the Warriors a changeup when their threes aren’t falling.
With that said, Davis played only 20 games this past season because of a calf strain and a finger ligament injury that prematurely ended his year. He’s missed at least 25 games in five of the past six seasons. Banking on him to stay healthy is a fool’s errand. James isn’t quite as injury-prone as Davis, but he hasn’t been a paragon of recent health, either: He’s missed at least 11 games in each of the past six seasons, and he missed the start of this past season with sciatica (which is the most DNP-Old injury imaginable).
Green missed at least 14 games in four of the past five seasons, while Curry played only 43 games this past season due to a knee injury that lingered far longer than he anticipated. If nothing else, this hypothetical Big Four would make the Warriors’ training staff earn their salaries and then some.
When healthy, Curry, Green, LeBron and Davis would be a terrifying quartet on both ends of the floor. Given their respective ages and injury histories, though, it’s fair to wonder how often all four would be healthy together.
That’s not the only reason to be skeptical of this would-be Warriors superteam, though.
Where’s the depth?
It’s unclear what the Warriors would be willing to offer to the Wizards for Davis. Jimmy Butler would have to be included for salary-matching purposes, but the Wizards would presumably want far more than a soon-to-be 37-year-old who’s currently recovering from a torn ACL.
The Warriors can sweeten their offer with as many as two first-round picks (2028 and 2030) and four first-round swaps (2027, 2029, 2031 and 2033). But would the Wizards want someone else who can help them win in the meantime, particularly after just landing AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick and signing Trae Young to a new four-year max contract?
The Warriors don’t have much else to offer right now, although Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos and rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg could all be of interest to the Wizards as well. Even if Golden State were able to hang on to all three, they’d still have precious little depth behind their new Big Four.
Moses Moody tore his left patellar tendon in late March, which ESPN’s Anthony Slater said at the time was “expected to impact his availability into next season.” Will Richard is the only other player whom the Warriors currently have under contract.
If Golden State uses the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign LeBron, they’ll be hard-capped at the first apron. They might be able to maintain access to the $5.5 million bi-annual exception, but they’ll otherwise be limited to offering only minimum contracts to external free agents.
The Warriors could be a popular destination for ring-chasers, although they’ll face competition from the reigning champion New York Knicks and the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Miami Heat. But depth will be a non-negotiable for them, particularly to survive the grind of the 82-game regular season. Having the high-end talent of the Curry-James-Davis-Green quartet only matters if they make it to mid-April in one piece.
Had the Warriors assembled that collection of talent at the turn of the decade, they might be poised to run the NBA for the next few years. But in 2026, the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs might run laps around the DNP-Old Warriors.
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