Warriors master offseason plan includes LeBron James and Anthony Davis

Ahead of a big storm, there are signs. The temperature drops. Clouds gather. The air feels different.

When it comes to the NBA, something similar is brewing.

For the last few weeks, there has been an eerie silence around LeBron James, who has been the center of the NBA’s universe for two decades. Initial talks with the Lakers went nowhere. James has apparently gone radio silent.

It’s the quiet before the storm.

On Monday, the warning alarms were blaring.

Draymond Green declined his $27.7 million player option with the Golden State Warriors to become a free agent. His motive is clear: If Green re-signs with the Warriors for less money, they’d have the financial flexibility to offer James the $15.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception.

To increase the atmospheric pressure, the Warriors are pursuing a deal to acquire Anthony Davis from the Wizards in exchange for Jimmy Butler, whose salaries ($58.5 million and $56.8 million, respectively) are nearly identical, though the latter’s agent rejects this narrative.

The Warriors also have four unprotected first-round picks they could use to sweeten the pot on a trade involving Butler, who’s recovering from a torn ACL, though it’s unclear how much of their future they’d be willing to leverage for this.

James and Davis won a championship together in 2020. They’re good friends, having spent five-and-a-half seasons together.

In other words, the Warriors are putting together a full-frontal blitz to lure James from Los Angeles, where he has spent the last eight years, his longest consecutive stretch in any city over his 23-season career.

This is the once-in-a-lifetime storm no one saw coming. It was talked about. It was imagined. But no one actually thought it could make landfall.

Not even James, who said on his 40th birthday that retiring with the Lakers “would be the plan.”

Not even Green, who told The California Post last season, “I’ve always wanted to [play with James],” but added, “I don’t see a path to it.”

The weather has shifted. The perfect conditions were created. And now it’s time to brace for impact.

For James, going to the Lakers makes the most sense for his brain, but going to the Warriors would make the most sense for his heart.

With the Lakers, he could earn the most money; say, something in the ballpark of $25-$35 million. His family lives in Los Angeles. He arguably has the best chance to win a championship alongside the 27-year-old Luka Doncic.

But if he chooses the Warriors, he’d finally be rid of the omnipresent awkwardness that hung over LA’s locker room like a dark cloud after they made Doncic their priority.

If he chooses the Warriors, it would wash away the resentment of having to nickel-and-dime with a Lakers franchise he led to its first championship in 10 years.

With Golden State, everything would be clean. There would be no pollution.

Golden State is where he’d have the most fun. James has said Steph Curry is the player he’d most like to play alongside. James and Green are so close that they call each other brothers, and James and Davis would be reunited after the latter was traded from the Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks.

Sure, the Warriors would be fielding a geriatric starting lineup next season with James turning 42, Curry turning 39, Green turning 37 and Davis turning 34.

But they’re all winners. There’s enough institutional knowledge there to take over the league with their creaky bodies. No one would want to face them in the postseason.

They’d be a walking ad for muscle relaxants. They’d be the Old Men Versus The Sea, if you will. They’d be so much fun.

Ten years ago, NBA commissioner Adam Silver would’ve probably had to figure out a legal way to block James from teaming up with Curry. But now, that would be a fascinating experiment. Could the league’s biggest legends overtake the young bucks?

James has already started leaning into that narrative.

His obsession is golf. Since the season ended, he has allowed his beard to turn gray. He’s somehow both a 65-year-old retiree and an elite athlete with 2% body fat who can still single-handedly lead a Lakers team past the Houston Rockets in the playoffs.

In other words, he’s unpredictable. This could be the version of a midlife crisis for arguably the greatest player of all time.

Perhaps at this point in his career, chasing happiness is more important than chasing championships. Perhaps joining the enemy would be his path to the most joy.

James played the Warriors in four straight Finals from 2015 to 2018. He called himself the greatest player of all time after leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to overcome a stunning 3-1 series deficit against them en route to the franchise’s first championship. The Warriors have been his ultimate measuring stick.

Now they could become something else — his final act.

Everything we thought we knew could be in flux.

The water is receding. The tidal wave is building. The Western Conference could look very different next year.

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