Sure, let's get weird. With the rumors of LeBron James joining the Golden State Warriors next season gaining some traction (or at least faux traction), it seems like the Warriors may have one more trick up their sleeve before the Warriors we've gotten so used to watching are no more. And while they can't actually bring in LeBron as a player-coach, because the league outlawed that 40 years ago, it's still a fun thought experiment; how would LeBron fare as a player-coach?
On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons took a mailbag question that asked, essentially, "What if LeBron signed with the Warriors next season as a player-coach?"
It's March in the NBA, everyone's hurt, and the Warriors are two games under .500. Hypotheticals are the only things keeping us all sane right now.
Would LeBron James be a good player-coach?
I actually don't think so. Ownership of a team feels like a foregone conclusion for LeBron sometime after retirement, and maybe he's good at owning a team from a macro level. But the nickname LeGM does have a basis in truth; in other words, he's already basically controlled the rosters he's played with. Giving him full control of the minute distribution of a team he's also playing on would be, admittedly, hilarious — but probably not effective.
We know Draymond Green is the No. 1 LeBron fan, and we know James and Steph Curry have developed a great relationship in recent years after multiple heated NBA Finals battles in the 2010s. But when your coworker becomes your boss... And also still your coworker, I guess, that's when things get weird, quickly.
I also think LeBron would fall victim to thinking that all other players should be able to do the things he did on a basketball court, which is unfortunately not possible because other basketball players aren't LeBron James. James, even with his genius-level feel for the game, would probably be drawing up plays for a roster of five LeBron Jameses.
However, Simmons and Rob Mahoney (who was also on the podcast) did toy with the idea that if James went to Adam Silver and asked to be a player-coach, Silver would essentially change the rules to make that possible. I agree — James is getting random jersey patches every few weeks for no reason, after all.
LeBron James, player-coach is probably not in the cards. But LeBron James, Golden State Warrior, doesn't feel so far-fetched anymore. That's probably the better outcome anyway.