If Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James decides to call it quits after the 2025-26 NBA season, fans will have been robbed of the chance to see him take on one of the other great players of his era in his final season.
Thursday’s game against the Golden State Warriors gave fans one more chance to see James and Stephen Curry go head-to-head in the regular season. But Curry was ruled out of the contest due to right knee management.
Because of that, James and Curry did not face off against in each other in a single game during the regular season.
James reflected on that oddity after the contest, a 119-103 win by the Lakers. He called it “a pleasure” and “an honor” to go up against Curry.
James — who has not revealed his future plans — was careful not to reveal too much about whether fans will get another chance to see him and Curry square off in a regular-season game.
“We don’t know what the future holds,” James said. “We don’t know if we’ll get the opportunity to play against each other or how many more times we get to play against each other.”
The Lakers and Warriors played four times during the 2025-26 NBA regular season, but either James or Curry missed every one of those matchups. The earliest game between both teams this season was missed by James, who was still recovering from sciatica. The last three times the teams have played, Curry missed the contest due to knee management. With Golden State also playing Friday, the Warriors opted to rest Curry for Thursday’s game, likely making him available against the Sacramento Kings on Friday.
If Curry and James are going to play against each other one more time this season, that’s going to have to come in the playoffs. The Warriors, in particular, face a tough road if the team wants to make that happen. Golden State will have to come out of the play-in tournament and then pull off an upset or two before being matched up with the Lakers. While Curry is capable of doing some incredible things when on the court, that might be too big an ask, even for him.
If fans want to see one more matchup between Curry and James, they may have to wait until next season. That would require James to put off retirement one more year. It would also require James to sign with a team other than the Warriors in free agency, which isn’t a guarantee if James does decide to play one more season.
Instead of going head-to-head against Curry next year, there’s a scenario where James gets to play with him every single night.
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