LeBron James and Stephen Curry went through another season without sharing the floor in a regular-season game, and the Lakers made sure Thursday ended with a win anyway. Los Angeles beat the Golden State Warriors 119-103 after Curry was ruled out because of right knee management.
James called it a pleasure and an honor to go up against Curry, saying it is always an honor just to be in his presence. The Lakers and Warriors played four times in the 2025-26 NBA season, but neither star appeared in every matchup. James missed the earliest meeting while recovering from sciatica, and Curry sat out the last three games because of knee management.
The absence mattered because this was the last guaranteed chapter of a rivalry that has defined the league for years. If James and Curry face each other again this season, it would have to come in the playoffs, and Golden State would first have to get through the play-in tournament and then pull at least one upset to reach Los Angeles.
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That is the part of the story that gives Thursday night its weight. James is 40 years old and has not revealed his future plans, so even the simple question of whether he plays again next season remains unanswered. After the game, he said, “We don’t know what the future holds,” and added that nobody knows whether they will get the chance to play against each other again, or how many more times it might happen.
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The tension is in the calendar and in the body. Golden State is set to play Friday and was likely to make Curry available against the Sacramento Kings, while James’ own recent injury worries have already forced him out of games before, including the earlier meeting with the Warriors. That leaves the postseason as the only path to another James-Curry showdown, and even that path is narrow. For now, Thursday’s game stood as another reminder that the era could be ending without one last regular-season collision.
