Warriors' LeBron James focus is costing them in other ways, but who cares?

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The Golden State Warriors are waiting on LeBron James.

That's costing them elsewhere in free agency, it seems.

Anfernee Simons, for example, was rumored to be a Warriors target, but they couldn't offer him fair market value as they hope to still pay LeBron.

Simons instead signed with the Philadelphia 76ers.

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On the one hand, it's a worrying posture. The Warriors clearly won't want to come away from this free agent period with nothing.

On the other hand, it's LeBron. He's worth the wait.

Warriors beat writer Nick Friedell summed it up like this on X:

"The angst from some portions of the Warriors' fan base about different free agents coming off the board right now is comical. If you have the chance to land LeBron James -- you wait to see what he decides. If he doesn't sign in the Bay then you look elsewhere and figure it out."

Especially given the current state of the Warriors, Friedell is right.

The best chance Golden State has of actually competing for another championship is to sign LeBron.

Simons would've been nice, sure, but he wouldn't have pushed the Warriors into title contention.

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James might not, but he also might, and that's something that Golden State clearly thinks is worth holding out for.

Many view the Warriors as the favorite, too, which they likely have a good sense of internally, one way or the other.

LeBron to the Warriors is still alive, and at least right now, they're waiting for him.