Millions of NBA fans have long wished that LeBron James and Steph Curry would play for the same team. Some members of the Golden State Warriors fanbase have dared dream that the two superstars could eventually team up in the Bay Area for one final push for more championship rings.
However, according to Marc Stein, any discussions between the Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers over a potential trade never really gained any traction, with Rich Paul playing a significant role in shutting things down. Paul was protecting LeBron from the “backlash” of moving to a fourth team in his career.
“Yet league sources say that the reported talks between the teams at the time never got that far in large part because James’ agent Rich Paul was adamantly opposed to the idea of James swapping Southern California for Northern California,” Stein wrote. “Sources say Paul implored both teams to scrap the concept — despite some owner-to-owner dialogue between the Warriors’ Joe Lacob and the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss and Green’s determination to lobby James to push for relocation to the Bay Area — largely because he wanted to insulate James from potential backlash over switching teams for the fourth time in his career.”