LeBron James Rumors: How The Golden State Warriors Could Sign The NBA's Best Player

Rumors of LeBron James going to the Golden State Warriors sent the internet into a frenzy Thursday morning. It all started with a report by ESPN’s Chris Haynes that said the Cleveland Cavaliers’ star could meet with the defending champs if they can create a max salary slot this offseason.

With the Cavs continuing to struggle and James almost certain to decline his player option for the 2018-2019 NBA season, there is growing speculation that the league’s best player will leave Cleveland for a second time. The Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets have been viewed as the biggest threats to sign James when he hits free agency.

No previous reports had seriously suggested Golden State as a legitimate destination for James. Not only have the Warriors become his chief rival with three straight meetings in the NBA Finals, but Golden State’s payroll wouldn’t allow them to sign James to a max contract.

The idea that Kevin Durant would leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for Golden State once seemed highly unlikely. It was almost exactly two years ago that Adrian Wojnarowski reported for The Vertical that the Warriors were a serious threat to sign Durant, and the star forward announced his decision to join Golden State five months later, shortly after the Warriors defeated the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.

In order for James to become a Warrior, the two sides would have to overcome several hurdles that Durant and Golden State didn’t have to deal with in 2016.

Let’s set aside the fact that, according to Haynes, there is no indication that Golden State will pursue the necessary moves they’d have to make in order to fit James’ contract under the salary cap. Actually creating that salary cap space while keeping their best players is a tall order.

For starters, the Warriors have no chance to sign James outright as a free agent because of their current payroll. Golden State would have to acquire him via a sign-and-trade with Cleveland, which would likely mean sending Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala to the Cavaliers in order to match James’ salary.

Before the Warriors can make that trade, they have to create a max salary slot—probably $35 million—for James. That means getting under next year’s salary cap, which is projected to be about $108 million.

According to reports, James won’t take a discount like the one Durant did by signing a contract that pays him $25 million this season. Before James left the Miami Heat to return to Cleveland in 2014, he made it clear to interested teams that he would only sign a max contract.

Assuming Thompson and Iguodala’s combined $35 million salary matches that of James, the Warriors would have a 2018-2019 payroll of just over $102 million. The Warriors are committed to paying Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Shaun Livingston, Damian Jones and Jordan Bell. Kevin Durant has a $26.25 million player option, which he’d have to turn down for a much cheaper contract in order to make a James trade work.

Durant obviously isn’t going to play for $6 million, meaning the Warriors would have to make more trades. If Golden State managed to find deals for Livingston, Jones and Bell in which they took back absolutely no additional money, Durant’s highest possible salary would jump up to about $17 million, according to the salary cap projections, assuming Golden State doesn’t keep their draft picks and fills out the entirety of their bench with league-minimum salaries.

That would force Durant to make less than half of what both Curry and James would earn for next season.

Golden State has the NBA’s highest payroll this season, paying their players upwards of $137 million.