The Warriors getting LeBron James and Kevin Durant is the most unhinged rumor of the NBA trade deadline

We have finally have an NBA trade rumor so delusional that only the Warriors could truly believe it.

The last time Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry teamed up in the NBA, the result was three NBA Finals appearances and two titles in three years. And then, a few years after separating, they got together as part of the USA Basketball Avengers with LeBron James to lead the United States to a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer.

So even if it seems impossible, one could be forgiven if thinking an NBA team featuring those three could still be pretty good for an NBA Expendables-style, one-last-job-type title run, even if all of them are going a bit gray in the beard (in LeBron’s case, literally). But it’s also the type of midseason transaction tornado that would get thrown out by NBA 2K’s machine logic for being too unrealistic and a set of moves that are nearly impossible to work under the league’s new, more restrictive collective bargaining agreement.

But as this weekend in basketball showed us, “nearly impossible” isn’t the same as actually impossible. In the aftermath of that Lakers heist, it’s hard to blame the Golden State Warriors for dreaming big. After all, if Luka Doncic can get traded to the Lakers seemingly out of nowhere, nothing is off the table.

And well, dreaming big is exactly what the Warriors are doing because, according to the latest dispatch from NBA insider Jake Fischer for The Stein Line, Golden State is letting themselves fantasize about a world where Durant, James and Curry team up in The Bay under Olympics coach Steve Kerr before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline:

Sources say the most ambitious idea being tossed around among Golden State’s decision-makers: Is there any feasible pathway for the Warriors to pull off the dreamiest of outcomes and find a way to bring both James and Durant to The Bay?

That would require quite the masterstroke. And while pulling that off currently stands as very unlikely, both from a salary-matching and asset valuation standpoint, this is the sort of big-game hunting that has defined these Warriors. From their original Durant free agency thunderbolt in 2016 … to last trade deadline’s inquiries about James … to this past offseason’s aggressive pursuits of both Paul George and Lauri Markkanen and, at times, trying to acquire both of them.

That’s obviously huge, sort of insane, and leads to one big question.

Could the Warriors actually trade for both LeBron James and Kevin Durant?

It would be difficult, but the answer is — sort of shockingly given the hellish restrictions of the new CBA and all three team’s cap situations — actually yes.

I spent way too much time before even writing this article trying to find a legally workable deal in the trade machine and was actually able to do so, as long as all three teams waited to consummate it until the day of the deadline, as Dennis Schröder is not eligible to be re-aggregated in a trade until then. There are other caveats, but legally, these teams could theoretically make the trade below, even if it’s probably too deranged and complicated to ever get agreed to in real life.

May I present to you, dear readers, the most unhinged trade machine screenshot I’ve ever included in an article:

Image via https://fanspo.com/nba/trade-machine

Now, it’s important to note a couple things here…

1. The Warriors would also have to sign multiple players off the street to fill out the legally required 14 players for their roster, and both the Lakers and Suns would have to cut multiple players. However, according to my (communications-degree-level) cap math, they all should have enough room to do so, but I’m sure SB Nation’s wide array of part-time CBA experts in the comments will let me know if I missed something.
2. LeBron James would also have to be upset enough about the AD trade to waive his no-trade clause to join Golden State, something he has indicated so far that he’s not going to do, which if true, will still only go down as only his second-most ruthless rejection of Warriors fans’ title dreams ever.
3. There would also obviously be draft picks being sent out here by the Warriors, but I didn’t even want to get into the logic of that and just had to see if this type of move was legally possible under the CBA.

… HOWEVER, in a world where all three teams can agree to a deal this complicated, get the pick exchanges to an acceptable level for all parties and LeBron agrees to take the James & Son show to San Francisco for one last ride with his former Finals foes, then, hypothetically, maybe, the Warriors rumored dream could become our ridiculous reality.

It’s probably not going to happen, but hey, as this weekend showed when the Lakers got Luka Doncic for fewer first-round picks than the Spurs used to trade for De’Aaron Fox, it never hurts for an NBA glamour franchise to dream big. And if the Warriors pull off something this crazy to go from a play-in team to potential title contender, maybe they really can say they’re light years ahead of the rest of the league. We’ll find out if they can by Thursday, Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. ET when the buzzer sounds on the NBA’s transaction window.