LeBron James is leaving the lakers. Would joining Warriors be threat to OKC Thunder?

The Thunder isn’t finished with LeBron James just yet. 

After OKC swept LeBron and the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs, it was unclear if James had played his last game in the purple and gold. Unclear if he’d be returning to LA or retiring from the NBA altogether. 

Tuesday brought clarity. James told the Lakers that he intends to play for a new team in what will be his 24th season, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported. Charania said the Warriors, Cavaliers and Heat are among the favorites to land James. 

Of those, James staying out West and signing with the Warriors is the path that would most affect the Thunder. 

Our old friend Anthony Slater, reporting for ESPN, said the Warriors are pursuing James in free agency and Anthony Davis via trade to join forces with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green in Golden State. The Warriors have also re-signed Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. Trading for Davis, exiled in Washington, would almost certainly mean parting with Jimmy Butler to make the money work. 

Just for fun, let’s imagine how those new-look (very old) Warriors would match up with the Thunder. 

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Barring a breakthrough in anti-aging therapies, I don’t see it. There’s only so much modern medicine can do. 

Compare the Thunder’s three-best players to the Warriors’ three-best players (under the LeBron hypothetical). 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be 28 next season. Stephen Curry will be 38. 

Jalen Williams is 25. LeBron James is 41, about to play in season 24. 

Chet Holmgren is 24. Anthony Davis is 33 going on 43. 

Gilgeous-Alexander, the back-to-back MVP, is smack in his prime. J-Dub and Chet are just now approaching their peak years. 

Curry, James and Davis are still excellent players, but they were rivals of the Thunder’s Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook era. Not this one. 

The NBA has become a young man’s game. The Thunder two seasons ago became the youngest team since the 1976-77 Trail Blazers to win the NBA title. The Spurs, whose three best players are 22, 21 and 20, just played in the Finals. 

We don’t think of the Knicks as young, but Josh Hart (31) was their oldest starter. Jalen Brunson is sage-like, but he’s only 29. 

The Golden Years Warriors would be fun. They’d fill arenas. They might even stay healthy for a playoff round. 

But they won’t last in a seven-game series against the Thunder and Spurs, whose best players grew up watching Steph and Lebron, Draymond and AD. 

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: LeBron James is leaving the lakers. Would joining Warriors be threat to OKC Thunder?