Is there a chance that LeBron James and Stephen Curry will team up in a certain event outside the NBA All-Star Game and the Olympics?
ESPN analyst Bobby Marks said an NBA regular season alliance between James and Curry is feasible as early as the 2025-2026 season, but that could mean the recently crowned Paris Olympics Most Valuable Player would have to move his home north of Los Angeles.
“LeBron James signed a two-year contract this past offseason,” Marks said. “With that contract, there’s a player option there. He doesn’t have a three-year contract or a four-year contract. He has a player option.”
This implies that James can opt out of his current contract with the Los Angeles Lakers next year to test free agency again.
The six-foot-nine forward is guaranteed to get $48.73 million this season and is bound to get $52.62 million next year if he opts in for the final year of his two-year deal.
However, he might have to say goodbye to a good chunk of his supposed salary for the 2025-2026 season if he decides to opt out and move to San Francisco to join the city’s Warriors squad led by Curry.
“He could become a free agent once again next offseason and pick the team that he would want to go to. Of course, that comes with probably leaving $50 million on the table to go to a team like Golden State and join Curry,” Marks further said.
Another option, which could be the likelier case, is just waiting for 2026, the year both James and Curry will surely become free agents.
A plot twist, though, is that Steph Curry is eligible for a contract extension that could lock him up with the Warriors for a few years beyond 2026.
“Steph Curry has two years left on his contract,” Marks said. “He has the ability to sign an extension. He could become a free agent also. Certainly, LeBron next offseason, or potentially the summer of ’26, when both can be free agents.”
By then, they had become free agents and could freely sign to any team, even returning to their hometown in the Metropolitan Cleveland area with join the Cavaliers.
Will we see another LeBron James-Stephen Curry tandem?
While a LeBron James-Stephen Curry team-up is possible contract-wise, the question surrounding NBA fans now is whether this partnership will happen.
If he opts in when his contract expires, James will be 41 years old, and NBA retirement could be on the horizon.
He already made it clear that the Paris Olympics was his retirement tour for Team USA and may not run back in 2028 when the soon-to-open Intuit Dome in Inglewood becomes the site for Olympic basketball action.
Steph Curry can still play when his contract expires at age 38, but he, too, has only a few years left in his NBA career.
Following their successful team-up in the Paris Olympics, their becoming a tandem in the NBA would be a dream come true, but for now, it’s just wishful thinking.
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