Warriors, 76ers tried to acquire Lakers' LeBron James before deadline

The Golden State Warriors andPhiladelphia 76ers inquired about Los Angeles Lakers superstarLeBron James prior to the NBA’s trade deadline on February 8,according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and RamonaShelburne.

Warriors owner Joe Lacob (withthe encouragement of star forward Draymond Green) reached out toLakers owner Jeanie Buss to inquire about the availability of Jamesin hopes of pairing him with longtime rival Stephen Curry. However,Buss (and James) quickly turned down Golden State.

After struggling to make wavesall season, the Warriors attempted to add James at the deadline andextend their dynastic run. Even at 39 years old, James is stillplaying at a high level with a skill set that would complementCurry, Green and Klay Thompson.

ESPN reported: “Buss told Lacob theLakers had no desire to trade James, but that he would need to seekthe answer on James' state of mind from his agent, Klutch SportsCEO Rich Paul, sources said. As an owner, Buss has operated withthe mindset that she wants her star players content with thefranchise, and that instructed her thinking on referring Warriorsleadership to James' representation, sources said.

"If the Lakers ever wanted atemperature check on James' commitment, here was his chance. In theend, the answer was returned resoundingly on the eve of the tradedeadline: Paul told Lacob and Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr., thatJames had no interest in a trade and wanted to remain a Laker,sources said. When Dunleavy reached out to Lakers GM Rob Pelinka inthose pre-trade deadline hours, Dunleavy had been told the same:The Lakers wanted to keep James."

Green, who is also representedby Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports, went the extra mile and asked Paul tohelp persuade James to come to Golden State, but to noavail.

“Earlier Wednesday, Green --whom Paul also represents at Klutch -- had sent Paul a text messagesoliciting his help in convincing James to join him in GoldenState, sources said. Once, Green had been a lead recruiter on KevinDurant's free agency signing with Golden State, but this was a fardifferent, far more futile 11th-hour pursuit," Wojnarowski andShelburne reported.

Moreover, Sixers president ofbasketball operations Daryl Morey also joined in the LeBron Jamessweepstakes but was immediately denied by Lakers general managerRob Pelinka. Wojnarowski and Shelburne revealed that Pelinkaresponded to Morey by asking if superstar Joel Embiid wasavailable, but that immediately ended their tradeconversation.

“Dunleavy was the second teamexecutive call to Pelinka on a possible James trade, sources said.After seeing James' cryptic social media post of an hourglass aweek before the trade deadline, Philadelphia 76ers president ofbasketball operations Daryl Morey called Pelinka to probe on aJames trade and was immediately told that James wasn't available,"the report states. "In fact, Pelinkaresponded by asking Morey if Joel Embiid was available, sourcessaid. And that ended that brief conversation.”

Ultimately, James stayed put inLos Angeles and two sides remain committed to each other for therest of the season as they look to gain important positioning forthe playoffs. The Lakers currently sit in ninth place in theWestern Conference with a 29-26 record.