Imagining a 4-Team NBA Trade That Pairs Stephen Curry with LeBron James in LA

When Stephen Curry removed the Golden State Warriors from his Instagram bio last week, speculation soon followed that the four-time NBA champion might want to relocate. Internet sleuths saw the joint post with LeBron James and the obvious conclusion: Steph to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Is there a world where the Warriors would trade one of the world's most popular players? Even if they remain a borderline playoff team for the final two years of his contract, having Curry's name on the roster may motivate Golden State to reject any suitors.

But what if Curry reached out to ownership with a trade request to the Lakers to finish his career with James, and the Warriors were willing, perhaps out of respect for Curry, to start their restructuring early and honor his request?

The immediate issue for the Lakers is finding a way to add Curry's $55.8 million salary, which would require the team to aggregate contracts, triggering a second-apron hard cap of $188.9 million. That's an issue when Los Angeles is about $45,000 below that line.

L.A. can't take back more than it sends out (without a first-apron hard cap of $178.1 million) and needs to get back to the minimum of 14 players. Meanwhile, the Warriors are almost $534,000 under their spending limit after acquiring De'Anthony Melton, Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson—they cannot take on the excess salary the Lakers need to send out.

It's not workable without additional teams. The following four-team trade is the best approximation of what it would take to get Curry to Los Angeles, and while it may be improbable, it's not technically impossible:

Lakers get:

• Steph Curry (from Warriors)
• Day'Ron Sharpe (from Nets)
• Wendell Moore Jr. (from Detroit Pistons)
• $3.9 million trade exception (Jalen Hood-Schifino)

Warriors get:

• Austin Reaves (via Lakers)
• Ben Simmons (via Brooklyn Nets)
• 2029 unprotected first-rounder (via Lakers)
• 2031 unprotected first-rounder (via Lakers)
• $2.4 million trade exception (Curry)
  

Nets get:

• D'Angelo Russell (via Lakers)
• Rui Hachimura (via Lakers)
• Gabe Vincent (via Lakers)
• Jalen Hood-Schifino (via Lakers)
• $23.3 million trade exception (Simmons)
• $2.0 million trade exception (Dennis Schröder)

Pistons get:

• Dennis Schröder (via Nets)
• Christian Wood (via Lakers)
• 2025 LA Clippers second-rounder (via Lakers)
• 2025 Miami Heat second-rounder (38-59, via Nets)
• $4 million (via Lakers)

It's an opportunity the Lakers can't pass up on, whatever the ramifications. The franchise gives up two unprotected firsts and its third-best player (Reaves) for Curry. It's an all-in move with two former rivals in the latter days of their careers, James (39) and Curry (36), showing how well they can play together in Paris.

With the two firsts, the Lakers have nothing left for future deals, with their 2025 going to the Atlanta Hawks (via the New Orleans Pelicans) and 2027 to the Utah Jazz (top-four-protected)—though it can offer pick swaps in 2026, 2028 and 2030 (if they can keep them out of this multi-team theoretical).

The Lakers keep Davis, Knecht (No. 17 in June's draft) and Bronny James (No. 55) but little else outside of Jarred Vanderbilt, second-year wing Maxwell Lewis, recently re-signed Max Christie and two minimum players (Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish).

The team does add some help with Sharpe (a young center who is extension-eligible before the season or a restricted free agent next summer). Moore may help as a backup wing but is primarily in the deal to help the numbers work for Detroit.

Los Angeles would sign two veterans at the minimum to get to the required 14 regular contracts, perhaps targeting Cedi Osman, Markelle Fultz, Justin Holiday and Dennis Smith Jr.

The lack of depth means the Lakers need good fortune with health and for young players like Christie, Knecht and Sharpe to perform at a high level. And flexibility next season will be marginal, with just the minimum to offer as a team above the second apron—something the team has been clear it will avoid, save for an opportunity like this one.

James can, if willing, opt out of his contract next year (at $52.6 million) to re-sign at a lower figure, enabling some potential flexibility.

Make no mistake, this starts and stops with Curry making the request and the Warriors acquiescing (never mind the complex logistics of getting four teams to agree to a trade).

That said, the Warriors get two unprotected firsts from the Lakers well after James, Davis and Curry's contracts have expired. Will L.A. be able to rebuild quickly? That's the gamble, but the key for Golden State might be removing protections.

Additionally, Reaves gives the Warriors a well-priced guard to pair with Brandin Podziemski. The Warriors take on Simmons as a large, expiring contract, enabling up to about $52 million in cap space next summer—likely more than any other franchise. That number drops considerably with the cap holds of Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, but the Warriors gain flexibility.

The Warriors can rely on veterans like Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney, Gary Payton II, Simmons and others (like Melton, Hield and Anderson) to try to compete or be used as trade bait before the February deadline. Golden State has made the playoffs in just two of the last five years (albeit with a title in 2021-22)—it's not like the franchise is giving up on a perpetual contender.

Of course, Golden State may want more from L.A., like Knecht or swaps on additional future firsts. There's a line where it doesn't make sense to anyone. This is an estimate of where that might fall.

The Nets signaled their direction when trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks. The team has up to six picks in the 2025 draft (including two seconds) and currently projects to have the most cap space in the league next summer (approximately $67 million, or $56 million with Cam Thomas' cap hold).

The franchise is heading into a rebuild, but Brooklyn did reinvest in Nic Claxton, which suggests a limit on how much it will pay Sharpe to be a long-term backup. In helping the Lakers get Curry, the Nets get out of Simmons' contract, part with Schröder and Sharpe—but get two of L.A.'s starters in Russell and Hachimura.

Russell (at 28 is younger than Schroder, almost 31) was an All-Star for the Nets in 2018-19 and could be a player the team chooses to re-sign. Hachimura, 26, is under contract for another season. The team also gets a look at Hood-Schifino (No. 17 in 2023) and doesn't lose the flexibility of the $22.3 million Bridges trade exception, functionally turning it into one for $23.3 million for Simmons.

Brooklyn's overall cost is Sharpe, the pick that projects to be its lowest in the next draft and some of its cap space (down to $25 to $37 million, depending on Thomas). The team upgrades from Schröder to Russell and can choose to keep him, staying over the cap entirely with the Simmons trade exception as a possible tool to add more talent.

The Pistons are rebuilding and recently used their cap space to help others shed salary (like Tim Hardaway Jr. from the Dallas Mavericks). Detroit still has about $10.2 million in space, enough to take in Schröder while trading Moore (followed by Wood via the minimum).

Detroit got three second-round picks (one provisional) to take on almost $12 million while sending Grimes to Dallas for Hardaway. In this deal, the Pistons add two seconds in 2025 and cash to help offset some of the incoming salary.

It's not a significant deal for the Pistons, but the team adds Schröder as an experienced backup point guard on a friendly expiring contract it can reroute before the deadline.

Detroit or Brooklyn could easily muck up this deal with greed—or just other plans—and the Lakers and Warriors are reliant on help from others to get Curry to the Lakers.

The proposed four-way deal shows how complex it would need to be given the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, Curry's contract size and the salary positions of the Lakers and Warriors.

This assumes that Curry is trying to force his way to Los Angeles and that L.A. is willing to go this far to get him. One "no" along the way would destroy the concept.

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on X/Twitter @EricPincus.