When the Warriors reportedly pursued a blockbuster LeBron James trade prior to last season's trade deadline, a moment that happened in Team USA's exhibition win over Canada on Wednesday night in Las Vegas likely is what they envisioned at the thought of pairing the NBA's all-time scoring leader with Steph Curry.
In the third quarter of Team USA's win, James forced a transition turnover and began a fastbreak with Curry opposite of him.
James passed the ball cross-court to Curry, who flipped it back for a highlight reel alley-oop to give Team USA an 11-point lead
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If Warriors CEO Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy had been able to pull off a complicated trade for LeBron, he might have been throwing down lobs from Curry at Chase Center.
No trade ever materialized, and instead, the iconic duo now are trying to lead Team USA to a gold medal the 2024 Paris Olympics.
James shared a photo Thursday morning while shouting out his Team USA partnership with Curry, hinting at the group of fans that have been wanting the two stars to play together.
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Following Team USA's 86-72 win over Canada, Curry and James conducted the postgame on-court TV interview together.
While James was being asked about the alley-oop, Curry can be seen jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store.
“We love to play the game of basketball and just try to share to each other," James told FS1. "I missed him in the first half on a wide-open three that I threw out of bounds. But he was able to connect with me on the lob. It’s fun. We play the game at a high level, but more importantly, we just play the game that we love the right way and that’s the result of it.”
Curry finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point range. James scored seven points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field in Team USA's first tune-up for Paris.
The 36-year-old Curry is signed with the Warriors for the next two seasons, while James just re-signed with the Lakers on a two-year, $101 million contract. So it's unlikely the two will team up in NBA before their careers are done.
But for the next few weeks, Curry and James have a chance to display what the Warriors dreamed of when they tried to pair the iconic stars together.