LeBron James and Anthony Davis to Warriors? Here's how it could happen.

Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News on Jun 29, 2026

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SAN FRANCISCO – The Golden State Warriors appear prepared to add two future Hall of Famers this summer after Draymond Green declined his $27.6 million player option.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis are reportedly both interested in coming to the Bay Area, and both just so happen to be represented by the same agency – Klutch Sports Group – that Green also employs.

Green is expected to re-sign with the Warriors on a multiyear contract at a lower per-year figure if the Warriors pull off the moves.

Both James, 41, and Davis, 33, would fit with the established older core of Steph Curry and Green, who are seeking a fifth title with newly re-signed coach Steve Kerr.

Golden State went 37-45 and was bounced in the play-in tournament after an injury-riddled season, but the Warriors appear ready to double down on aging pedigree for the second year in a row.

So how could the Warriors fit both future Hall of Famers on the roster? It would likely involve a massive pay cut and a blockbuster trade.

Let us begin with James, who could be leaving Los Angeles after eight seasons.

The league’s all-time leading scorer played with Davis for six seasons, winning a title together in 2020, but a reunion would require James to make a steep financial sacrifice after a season that saw him lead the Lakers to a playoff series victory over the Houston Rockets.

The NBA’s salary cap is broken up into tiers. The soft cap is projected to be $165 million for the upcoming season, and as long as the Warriors stay under that threshold when James signs, they could use the non-taxpayer midlevel exception to bring him in now that Green’s salary is not on the books. That exception would allow them to bring James in on a one-year, $15 million contract.

The Warriors currently have $157.3 million in salary pledged to players for the upcoming season, counting Yaxel Lendeborg’s $6.1 million and Al Horford’s $7 million, leaving them plenty of room to use the NTMLE on James.

Salary cap expert Keith Smith of Spotrac noted that acquiring James in that manner would have massive implications on the team’s roster-building flexibility going forward.

“When you use the non-taxpayer, you’re hard capped at the first apron,” Smith told the Bay Area News Group. “Once you establish that as a hard cap, you can’t exceed it by even one dollar.”

The first apron is $209 million.

Making a move for Davis would be more difficult.

Davis is making $58.46 million in 2026-27, and the only realistic way the Warriors could acquire him would be to trade Jimmy Butler’s $56.8 million contract plus additional salary such as Will Richard’s to match or exceed Davis’ figure. The Warriors would surely need to sweeten the deal with draft picks, considering Butler is currently rehabbing an ACL tear.

Just last week, Butler was sitting a few feet away from team owner Joe Lacob at a corporate event. But to get one of James’ good friends to come to Golden State as part of a package deal, Butler would have to go to Washington, D.C.

Davis, 33, is a 10-time All-Star and still one of the top centers in the game, averaging 24 points and 11 rebounds per game for his career. However, his health has been a major question mark for years.

He has played in at least 60 games in only one of the past six seasons. He has already been a part of two megatrades since 2025: the swap that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for Davis, and then a trade that saw Davis go from Dallas to the Wizards.

It should be noted that while Curry is eligible to sign a $60 million extension in August and Brandin Podziemski is also eligible to sign a long-term extension, neither new contract would have any bearing on the salary cap this season.

Green would be expected to re-sign with the Warriors after the addition of the star duo, and the Warriors could use the rest of their cap space to fill out the roster while staying under the first apron.

Free agency begins on Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, and players can officially sign on July 6.

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