Steve Kerr Fuels LeBron Speculation With Four-Word Reply: ‘Oh, We Got Him’
Steve Kerr joked that the Warriors had already signed LeBron James, a viral quip landing as James stays silent in his first open free agency since 2010.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told a fan asking him to sign LeBron James that the team already had, quipping "Oh, we got him" in a video posted to X on Tuesday, according to The Athletic.
The clip, captured while Kerr was in his car, spread quickly among Warriors supporters hoping the coach had let a real transaction slip. Warriors officials confirmed to The Athletic that the footage was genuine and not an AI fabrication, but framed the remark as Kerr doing what he usually does, using humor to deflect a question the franchise itself cannot yet answer.
"Put that on Twitter," the four-time championship-winning coach added before laughing, waving and driving off, per The Athletic.
Why the joke landed
The timing is what gives the exchange weight. James, 41, announced on June 30 that he would return for a 24th NBA season but leave the Los Angeles Lakers after eight years and sign elsewhere. That made him an unrestricted free agent, opening the market for the league's all-time leading scorer for the first time since he left the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018, and, in practical terms, the first genuinely open bidding since his 2010 move to the Miami Heat.
On July 3, James' agent Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports Group, appeared on his podcast with Max Kellerman and named the teams he considers real contenders: the Warriors, Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. Golden State sits on that list, which is part of why Kerr's throwaway line drew the reaction it did.
The Golden State connection
James and the Warriors have a long, tangled history. He played four straight NBA Finals against them from 2015 to 2018 while in Cleveland, going 1-3, with the lone win coming in 2016. More recently he has built public friendships with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, attended Green's wedding, and won Olympic gold alongside Curry under Kerr at the 2024 Paris Games.
In a 2022 clip from his HBO show "The Shop," James named the player he would most want to join. "Steph Curry is the one that I want to play with for sure in today's game," he said, according to The Athletic.
Curry, asked last week at the American Century Championship celebrity golf event in Lake Tahoe what his recruiting pitch would be, kept it dry. "Do you want to play good basketball and be around people who know how to play the game?" he told reporters, adding that Golden State's championship track record speaks for itself and that the decision is ultimately James'.
What's still unresolved
James has not announced where he will play, and that silence is holding up other league business, including James Harden's contract situation in Cleveland. Any move by a player of his stature reshapes team timelines and title odds across the league.
The Athletic reported the Warriors remain hopeful James may eventually pick them, while cautioning that Kerr's comment was a joke rather than a confirmation. For now, the coach's four words are the closest thing to news in a free agency still waiting on its biggest decision.
