How Warriors Can Keep Draymond and Land LeBron After James' Lakers Split

In a stunner, LeBron James is leaving the Los Angeles Lakers.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported that James will continue his career in 2026-27 with a new team.

With the Lakers out of the picture, the Warriors are seemingly the front-runners to land him.

There's been speculation since the Kristaps Porzingis extension report that the Warriors can't offer James the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception of $15 million.

That is not accurate.

It will take patience from Draymond Green, but they can get him back with a decent salary as well.

Step 1: Get James to Agree to NTMLE

This one is pretty simple.

At the moment, the Warriors have nine players making about $177 million. They can give James the full non-taxpayer mid-level, which would result in them having 10 players making about $192 million.

Once they give James the NTMLE, they will be hard-capped at the $209 million first apron.

That means they will have to get Green and a minimum of three other players under contract for about $17 million.

That's not a lot of money left over for Green, but the Warriors don't need to solve that problem today Their plan should be to get James under contract and worry about Green's contract over the next week.

Step 2: Create Space for Green's Contract by Trading Moody

To be clear, it would be a cut-throat move to trade Moses Moody, a 24-year-old wing who has done nothing but work hard and incrementally improve since being drafted by the Warriors in 2021.

But there's no other realistic option to create more cap room under the first apron.

Moody has a $12.5 million salary. If the Warriors can find a taker for him without taking any salary back in return, they will essentially have about $10 million more to give to Green.

And considering Green's selfless opt-out made this entire James plan possible, they should try to take of him. My guess is James will demand that the Warriors promise to take care of Green as best they can as part of his agreement to join the Dubs.

The Warriors will have to act quickly, as everyone becomes even more complicated if they don't find a Moody trade by the official start of free agency on July 6. But it shouldn't be impossible to find a taker. Sure, Moody is out for most of the 2026-27 season with a knee injury, but he's under contract through 2027-28. Plenty of young teams would love to have Moody as part of their long-term plans.

If the team acquiring Moody wants a future second-round pick or two for their troubles, the Warriors can give them the second-rounders they own in 2032 and 2033.

Once Moody's contract is off the table, the Warriors will have nine players under contract making about $179 million. They can give Green a multiyear deal with a starting salary of about $20 million, fill out the rest of the roster with veteran minimum contracts and be just hair under the $209 million first apron.

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