A few years ago, the relationship of LeBron James and Stephen Curry appeared to improve from the peak of their rivalry when they met in The Finals in four straight seasons.
James may have had an ulterior motive thinking he could recruit Curry to the Los Angeles Lakers when it looked like the Golden State Warriors might be unable to reload into a title contender. Curry’s contract status was also in doubt amongst some within the league before he signed a four-year, $215 million extension in 2021.
“There was some wonder about whether Curry would take that last contract with Golden State,” said Brian Windhorst on The Bill Simmons Podcast. “Now, look, there ended up being zero point zero drama. The Warriors offered the full boat, but he had some injury issues. The Warriors were looking at a $400 million payroll. Nobody was sure they were going to do it, but I thought he was, you know, giving him the wink, wink and was like ‘Hey, you know, if you don’t take that last contract you can come down to the Lakers.’
“That’s what happened with Kyrie [Irving]. When Kyrie was heading toward free agency and it was clear he wasn’t going to stay in Boston, LeBron all of a sudden, the two of them kind of mended that fence. And I think it was based on that, the concept of playing together again in L.A. It didn’t work out. It didn’t happen.”