The Golden State Warriors' alleged interest in trading for LeBron James before last season's trade deadline has sparked conversations about King James' ability to make an impact for a team at this stage of his career. While many don't think that Bron is a game-changer at age 39, going 40, Boston Celtics
Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett believes that he could have made an impact on the Warriors had that rumored trade pushed through. KG used the 2010-11 Boston Celtics, who acquired an aging Shaquille O'Neal to bolster their title bid, as an example.
"They had a deal that was going to send Bro to San Fran," said Garnett. "Man, listen, we played with Shaq. I don't give a fu** what was going on. Shaq was older, but he was still looked at as Shaq. Bro, if he doesn't get hurt, we win because he did enough for us."
Shaq played his last NBA season in Boston
Big Diesel signed with Garnett's C's in 2010, and even though he was already 38 years old, he still made an impact. With Shaq's presence, the Celtics opened the season with a 41-14 record and were on top of the Eastern Conference. However, with the four-time champ missing games due to an assortment of injuries, Boston sputtered with a 15-12 record in their final 27 regular-season games.
O'Neal missed the first two rounds of the playoffs and played only 12 minutes during the Celtics' Eastern Conference Finals showdown with the Big 3 Heat. Miami won that series in five games, and Shaq retired after the season. O'Neal averaged 9.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in 20.3 minutes of playing time per game, but his mere presence greatly affected the Celtics.
"P was getting six to ten points a game just off bull**** like that," added Garnett. "A nig** didn't leave Shaq's body because of the rebound. Man, lord, it doesn't even matter. It's the effect of 'Bron. If he can still lay the ball up, if he can still be in the layup line, if he can still put the jersey on, it's always active."
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Paul reportedly halted the Bron to GSW
It's unclear what happened to the LeBron to Golden State trade talks, but reports say the conversation never went beyond exploratory. Just recently, ESPN's Marc Stein claimed that James' agent, Rich Paul, discouraged Joe Lacob and Jeanie Buss from making the trade to protect King James' legacy.
"Sources say Paul implored both teams to scrap the concept — despite some owner-to-owner dialogue between the Warriors' Joe Lacob and the Lakers' Jeanie Buss and Green's determination to lobby James to push for relocation to the Bay Area — largely because he wanted to insulate James from potential backlash over switching teams for the fourth time in his career," wrote Stein.
King James going to Golden State last February didn't make sense at all. But after Bron and Steph Curry teamed up at the recent Paris Olympics, many are now clamoring for them to team up before they end their careers, with some revisiting the failed February talks. KG just added another layer to that argument with the Shaq comparison.
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