Part of the external resistance to the idea of LeBron James joining the Golden State Warriors stems from the team's place outside championship contention, having failed to make the playoffs last season while being involved in the Play-In Tournament now in each of the past three seasons.
Yet James' agent, Rich Paul, has said the quiet part out loud about the Warriors' potential with James, suggesting they'd be a sneaky threat if the superstar forward did decide to head to the Bay Area.
Rich Paul says quiet part out loud about Warriors' LeBron James dream
Speaking on the latest episode of 'Game Over' with Max Kellerman, Paul stated that any rival team wouldn't want to see a combination of James and Stephen Curry on the Warriors in a postseason setting.
"If we're just talking strictly basketball, you don't want to play them. You definitely don't want to play them in a playoff series healthy," Paul said. "You talk about just basketball brilliance of mind and experience and production."
This is ultimately why many fans want to see James in a Golden State uniform, even if some are still turned off by the idea of the 4x MVP joining the team he battled in four-straight NBA Finals last decade.
As currently constructed, the Warriors don't have a clear path to contending for a deep playoff run next season, but landing James, and making the sort of minor other moves that Paul even alluded to, would at least put them in the picture even if they don't immediately leap into tier one contention.
Stephen Curry-LeBron James pairing would terrifying rival teams
Kellerman pushed back on the healthy notion, acknowledging the potential the team could have but identifying Kristaps Porzingis as just one player who's historically failed to be on the floor consistently when it matters most.
Yet disregard Porzingis, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Al Horford or any other aging, veteran player. The sheer star power of a simple Curry-James duo would bring an aura and legacy that would make opposing teams shiver at the thought of a playoff matchup.
Rival fans may point to James being 42 and Curry 39 by the time next year's postseason rolls around, and they may not want to admit that this old of a team has any chance of a deep run, but Paul is absolutely right. No one would want to face them given their history, championship pedigree and status as the two greatest players of the past 15 years.
Can the Warriors be good enough for James to actually consider signing with them in the coming weeks? From Paul's comments, that shouldn't be too much of an issue, particularly if they were to make another major move beyond James' signature.
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