Warriors May Have Lost LeBron Sweepstakes Due to 2 Underreported Reasons

Two reasons outside of roster quality and narratives that might have influenced LeBron's decision

Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Joe Lacob | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Golden State Warriors' LeBron James pursuit ended when the four-time MVP agreed to join the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

On the Game Over podcast, Max Kellerman asked Klutch Sports' Rich Paul if the final decision came down to the Warriors and 76ers.

"It was pretty layered across the board," James' agent replied.

Some have suggested that this means it did come down to the 76ers and Warriors, but I'm pretty sure he was saying that the Cavaliers, Heat and Warriors all had their pros and cons, and there wasn't a clear second-place finisher.

In any case, the Warriors might have been close to landing James. But I have four possible reasons they didn't land him. Let's go over the ones that are reported on frequently before getting to the ones I'm speculating about.

Known Reason 1: Quality of Roster

As I wrote here, the Warriors had the worst roster setup of the four finalists. To summarize, the 76ers and Cavs were one LeBron James away from having a loaded starting five, while the Heat would have had a Big Three with LeBron, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.

The Warriors would have had a Big Two with LeBron and Stephen Curry, with the hope that Jimmy Butler would return to form from his ACL injury to make it a Big Three.

Known Reason 2: Narratives Working Against the Dubs

If you spent any time on X over the last few weeks, you saw that many fans would have been disgusted with LeBron joining the Warriors. Some of these people were Cavs fans who hate the Warriors, but others simply didn't want to see James end up playing with a contemporary rival (Curry) and for a team that LeBron once had a huge rivalry with.

To the degree LeBron cared about that is up for debate.

But one thing that almost assuredly worked against the Warriors is the fact that the 76ers have not won a title since 1983, whereas the Dubs have four since 2015.

Bringing a title to the Sixers would be more special than bringing one to the Warriors.

Speculated Reason 1: Dubs' Inferior Front Office

If LeBron joined the Warriors, he would have had to be sure that the front office would make win-now moves to put the team into the championship tier.

Perhaps team governor Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. would have gotten aggressive on the trade market once they got LeBron, but their inactivity over the last four seasons would not have given me confidence if I were LeBron.

But it could go beyond that.

The Warriors once had a loaded front office with Jerry West, Travis Schlenk, Bob Myers and others.

Now, the perception is that Lacob has too much unchecked influence in basketball decisions because the Warriors are lacking powerful voices in the front office.

Meanwhile, the 76ers now have Myers, who is working above president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, another promising mind in the industry.

Their vision to do whatever it takes to contend is obvious. They aren't thinking about ticket sales in 2030 like the Warriors seem to be by holding onto all of their first-round picks.

In public interviews, Dunleavy has often come off as cold and defensive, whereas Myers is so comfortable that he went on Rich Paul's podcast to give his LeBron pitch (among other things).

It's hard to say how much of a difference having the personable Myers as the team's leading voice won James over. But I'd bet it made some difference.

Speculated Reason 2: Fit with Draymond

Draymond Green was often cited as a big positive influence in the Warriors' bid for LeBron. After all, they are close friends.

But if I were LeBron, I would have been concerned with the offensive fit.

Green said on his podcast that he would've stood in the corner on offense like PJ Tucker if LeBron came to the Warriors. The problem with that is Green is a career 32.1 percent three-point shooter.

His percentage would inevitably rise if he got several wide-open corner threes every game, but it probably wouldn't go up enough to make defenses pay for overloading the paint to stop LeBron and Steph.

Also, keep in mind that James shot 31.7 percent from three last season. He's ideally a 4 these days, but so is Green. Playing both would have been challenging.

I have no doubt that they would have figured out ways to coexist in the regular season. But in the playoffs, these spacing issues might have forced the Warriors to bench Green.

Though James would never admit it publicly, I have to wonder if he was worried about the fit with Green. The fact that he chose a team with three decent three-point shooters in their starting lineup (Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown) who can take advantage of defenses packing the paint to stop James and Joel Embiid makes me think the basketball fit was considered as much or more than the quality of the roster.