The Golden State Warriors did everything in their power to convince LeBron James to bring his talents to the Bay Area this summer. Stephen Curry publicly recruited him twice. Draymond Green even made a pitch behind the scenes during his vacation. Head coach Steve Kerr even joked at one point that LeBron had already joined the Warriors.
In the end, none of it proved to be enough.
According to Green, there was one obstacle that he thinks the Warriors simply couldn’t overcome.
Speaking on The Draymond Green Show, the four-time NBA champion explained why he thinks LeBron chose the Philadelphia 76ers over the Golden State Warriors.
“If you go back to Cleveland, even if you go back to Cleveland and win the championship, it’s not gonna be as good as 2016. If you go to Miami and win the championship, it’s not gonna be as good as 2012 or 2013. Those two places kind of got eliminated just because.”
“You look at Golden State, and I ultimately don’t think Bron was ever able to get over the history. And I understand it. I get it. What we all ultimately always knew was, that’s the hurdle to get over. You know, we live in a day and age where everybody who doesn’t have anything to say has something to say. And so he’s going to get crushed if he comes to the Warriors. ‘Oh man, you went to team up with Steph.’ ‘Ah, you had to go to them.’ Da-da. And I think ultimately that weighed in on the decision a lot. That played a big role in the Warriors not landing LeBron.”
Green’s perspective is absolutely right.
The history between the two is impossible to ignore.
For four consecutive years, LeBron and the Warriors faced each other in the NBA Finals. The Warriors defeated the Cavaliers in 2015 before blowing a 3-1 lead in 2016. After that, they added Kevin Durant and won back-to-back championships against the Cavaliers in 2017 and 2018.
Those battles became the greatest rivalry of modern NBA history.
And Green thinks that joining the very team that cost LeBron three championships would have created criticism unlike anything he had previously faced in his career.
The Warriors’ aggressive pursuit was quite understandable.
They entered the offseason going after every superstar who became available. They first went after Giannis Antetokounmpo, who they had a slim chance of getting, but they still submitted a solid offer. Then they went after Jaylen Brown, who was already linked to them in February. But the Warriors wouldn’t go all in with their offer at the trade deadline. And this time around, they couldn’t get it done.
Then all their hopes rested on LeBron James. And he ultimately became their biggest target. In the end, none of their efforts came to fruition.
But we have to understand that basketball might not have been the only factor.
Joining the Golden State Warriors, the team that beat LeBron three times in the Finals, to team up with Curry after spending nearly a decade fighting for the crown of the NBA, just didn’t seem to fit.
Fair or unfair, LeBron would have faced relentless criticism if he joined the Warriors because that was the team that was arguably his greatest Finals rival.
Instead, he chose the Philadelphia 76ers.
Rather than choosing the Cleveland Cavaliers, his hometown team, or the Miami Heat, a team with which he has history, or trying a fresh path with the Golden State Warriors, LeBron chose to find a new challenge with the Philadelphia 76ers.
If LeBron can end the Sixers’ championship drought, which dates back to 1983, he would become the first player in NBA history to win titles with four different franchises.
Ultimately, Green thinks the decision wasn’t as much about basketball as it was about legacy.
The Warriors may have Stephen Curry, championship DNA and a path to contention. But the weight of history and the inevitable public reaction that would have followed undoubtedly proved to be the final hurdle that the Golden State Warriors simply couldn’t overcome.
