SAN FRANCISCO — LeBron James immediately would make the Golden State Warriors a better team. What Steve Kerr and his coaching staff would need to figure out, if James ultimately agrees to join, is how to maximize the remaining greatness he can offer them.

James’ potential arrival became realistic on Tuesday after he chose to leave the Los Angeles Lakers after eight seasons. He informed the franchise he intended to explore opportunities elsewhere rather than finish his career in L.A. The Warriors have quickly emerged as one of the possible landing spots, which could pair James with his longtime rival Stephen Curry on a team that has spent much of the last year searching for one more championship run.

What Kerr has always known — and saw firsthand as the coach of Team USA when he was tasked with finding a way for James and Curry to get the best out of each other during the 2024 Olympics in Paris — is that the pair of all-time greats share the same love for the day-to-day grind required to remain atop the basketball world for so long.

“It’s just the love for the game,” Kerr said before a game against James and the Los Angeles Lakers on April 9. “Love for the competition, the process, the work. I think all great players share an obsession with the game itself. It’s a love for the game. It’s an obsession with getting better, with competing. All the guys who I either played with, or have coached, you can just see — it means everything to them. So, when you combine that with incredible talent, which both guys have, Steph has the greatest hand-eye coordination I think of anybody on earth. And LeBron is probably the greatest athlete, physical specimen, that I’ve ever seen. So, you get those qualities behind, and this is the result. There’s a reason they’re both still going. They love it. They’re obsessed with it.”

In that regard, James would instantly fit with the Warriors — and not just because he is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Curry sets a tone every day inside Chase Center that everybody else in the organization follows. Kerr, and other longtime staff members, have long marveled at Curry’s consistency. His personality and leadership set the tone for everybody else. Players — young and old — see that and want to do their part to support him. James would respect the standard that Curry has set and lean on a relationship between the pair that has lasted more than 20 years. He’ll also have close friend Draymond Green to bounce questions off of as he learns the Warriors’ structure.

From a basketball standpoint, the biggest question would be how James fits with everyone besides Curry. James played 60 games last season, more than most of the veterans on the Warriors’ injury-plagued roster. Like seemingly every other player who has played with Curry, he would love the space that his longtime rival’s presence creates. But James would have to find his own rhythm with everyone else.

If James joins the Warriors, four of the five spots in the starting lineup would likely be locked. He would join Curry, Green and big man Kristaps Porziņģis, along with Kerr’s choice of either guard Brandin Podziemski, forward Gui Santos or rookie Yaxel Lendeborg.

Kerr said throughout the beginning of last season that his hope was to stick with a starting group and allow that group to find its own rhythm. Early-season injuries and inconsistency derailed that plan. James’ arrival would give the Warriors’ another chance to start fresh.

One of the biggest concerns would be that James shot just 31.7 percent from beyond the arc last year with the Lakers, his lowest percentage from 3 since the 2015-16 season. Teams who already slack way off Green defensively would also force James to beat them from the outside while clogging as much space for Curry to operate. Porziņģis, if he can stay healthy, would provide another long-range option to create more openings. While James, Green and Curry can all set up the offense when needed, Podziemski would appear to be the favorite to start early if he can improve on initiating the offense, something Kerr wanted him to do at times last year.

What’s clear, whether James signs or not, Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy wanted the roster to get younger this summer and to have more options of players that would be able to play both ends of a back-to-back. But nobody is turning down the chance to have James for roughly $15 million, and the Warriors will figure the rest out as they go along.

It’s why Podziemski, who played in every game last season, Santos, Lendeborg and second-year guard Will Richard need to be ready to produce every night. It’s also why whoever the Warriors sign to fill out the end of the roster, along with holdovers such as Malevy Leons, LJ Cryer and second-round pick Lajae Jones must come into the season ready to play meaningful minutes.

James has been remarkably durable throughout much of his career, but if this deal happens, the Warriors are going to treat James the same way they treat Curry, Green, Porzingis and Al Horford: cautiously. The wild card in James’ potential arrival, and perhaps to the Warriors’ season itself, is the health of Jimmy Butler. If Butler, who is recovering from an ACL injury, can return to being close to the player he was before he got hurt, the Warriors could have the type of Hall of Fame-stuffed lineup no team would want to face in the postseason.

On paper, the Warriors still have many of the same issues they did last season, especially a lack of pure shot creators who can get rolling offensively. But James still changes the equation, even at 41.

As was the case last season, though, the Warriors success or failure depends on health. All Kerr and Curry have wanted is one more chance to play in meaningful postseason games together. If James arrives, will they get that chance this time?

If the reports are true and James is prioritizing basketball happiness over just title contention in the final stage of his career, the Warriors offer the best landing place in the league. They give their players, especially their stars, a lot of freedom to live the way they want and have shown through the years that they know how to treat the greats of the game.

If the Warriors do land James, they would also allow him to play two roles that he has rarely undertaken during the course of his career: Secondary star and underdog. James would join a team that already has an established leader in Curry while playing for an organization that is accustomed to the spotlight but no longer is viewed as a realistic title contender. James’ arrival would bring the hype, but the expectations aren’t the same as they were earlier in his career.

If James is really trying to find a basketball retirement home, there are far worse places he could pick to spend his final playing days.

What made Norway and Ivory Coast a fascinating tactical match-up heading into the round of 32 was how differently they used the 4-3-3 formation.

Stale Solbakken’s Norway, at their first World Cup since 1998, like to attack lop-sided. Erling Haaland is the focal point, and Alexander Sorloth, a similar target man profile at 6ft 4in, is used as a wide forward from the right. Their right-back provides the width and, on the opposite wing, things look a lot more traditional: Antonio Nusa is a dribbling winger and David Moller Wolfe provides overlaps.

Norway scored eight times in the group stage but conceded in every match too. Their approach, trying to outscore teams, contrasted with Ivory Coast. Head coach Emerse Fae had led them to a first-ever World Cup knockout round by keeping matches tight. Late drama went their way in a 1-0 win over Ecuador, and then against them when Deniz Undav scored a 94th-minute winner for Germany. Their star power is out wide, not up top: Yan Diomande, the RB Leipzig man tipped for a big move this summer, former Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe, and Manchester United’s Amad Diallo.

So while it’s a cliche that midfield battles decide who wins the game, what mattered here was which team were better out wide.

Norway edged possession in the first half and wanted to work wide triangles around Ivory Coast’s 4-1-4-1 block. Sorloth played high, facilitating Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard to rotate wide and pull deeper to get on the ball.

At times, Odegaard was the spare man when Ivory Coast locked on, making a three-v-two down the right.

Here was a simple move two minutes in: right centre-back Kristoffer Ajer found Sorloth, he released Marcus Pedersen on the overlap, and the right-back picked out Haaland.

Sorloth crossed to Haaland later in the first-half for another headed chance, albeit one which Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana held comfortably.

Norway’s opening goal, scored by left-winger Nusa on 39 minutes, owed to smart combination play. They had initially built-up down the left, and full-back Wolfe underlapped Nusa. Faced with a two-v-three underload, they reworked the ball to the middle. Once the orange shirts slid centrally, Odegaard punched the ball back to the left.

Wolfe’s run inside, becoming a ‘bonus back’ in the box, was key. It took Guela Doue, Ivory Coast’s right-back, towards his own goal, and left winger Pepe defending against Nusa — any coach would want the full-back defending one-v-one and the winger tracking the run.

Pepe looked uncomfortable and Wolfe had Doue pinned, unable to help. The main focus for Ivory Coast was dealing with the double threat of Haaland and Sorloth at the back post. Nusa chopped inside before an opposition midfielder could get across to support Pepe, and curled a far-post finish past Fofana — a trademark goal for him, one he scored in a pre-tournament warm-up win over Sweden.

Ivory Coast approached things a little differently. They were quick to hit their wingers from regains and, without a Haaland or Sorloth type goalscorer, needed Diomande and Pepe to make runs into the box at crossing situations.

Diomande did that a couple of times, once when Doue overlapped Pepe and fired a cross in over the head of striker Ange-Yoan Bonny, though he could not direct his header on goal.

Later in the half, when left-back Ghislain Konan dribbled past Sorloth to break the Norway press and put Diomande into a crossing position, he found Pepe at the back-post.

He opted for a side-foot pass towards Bonny when he really should have shot, and Ajer hooked the ball over the bar.

Solbakken spoke about this in his post-match analysis. “We struggled a bit with their crosses, there were too many corners against us,” he told reporters — the corner count finished 14-3 in favour of Ivory Coast.

Norway sat off during the second half, holding their 4-5-1 shape, and the Ivory Coast equaliser came about from a system switch and double sub.

Fae introduced Amad for No 8 Christ Inao Oulai and switched Bonny with Elye Wahi in a like-for-like change. The 4-3-3 became a 4-2-3-1 with Amad as a No 10. In the build-up to scoring, he drifted over to the right, where Doue was high, and Norway had dropped into a back five.

He worked a one-two with Pepe to get into the box, and showed dancing feet to weave between two defenders before, in stride, picking out the bottom-left corner. (Pepe had tried a similar passing combination with captain and midfielder Franck Kessie in the first-half, and found his run tracked by left-back Wolfe).

“We lacked a little bit of maturity after the equaliser,” Fae said in his post-match press conference. “By wanting to score the second goal quickly, we opened up spaces behind and they (Norway) used them well.”

The inevitable Haaland match-winner, 12 minutes after Amad levelled things, was masterfully simple: pass and move, move and pass. Substitute Fredrik Aursnes played forward to Oscar Bobb, who replaced Sorloth, and then ran beyond his winger.

Bobb is a proper winger and a left-footer. With a shift inside, he sent through No 8 Patrick Berg, who ran between the centre-backs — Emmanuel Agbadou felt he had to cover the run by Aursnes, and erroneously opened up a more dangerous pass.

As effective as Sorloth is for Norway, he is not a passer, and this move reflects Bobb’s profile. “We got players in the right positions and managed to take over the game again,” Solbakken told reporters of the goal. Berg played a 10-yard square pass for Haaland to tap in.

Norway face Brazil in the round of 16 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday. Solbakken refused to entertain questions about facing them, and it’s a daunting test on paper, though either opponent — Norway or Ivory Coast — would really threaten Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Their weak spots in the squad are at full-back and, as Morocco showed in the opening round, they can be cut through on counter-attacks. Given Vinicius Junior’s match-winning performances, it’s another match which might be decided out wide.

It is not only their devastating finishing about which France’s World Cup rivals should be concerned.

The spirit and unity of this exceptionally talented Les Bleus team should also worry the remaining sides left in the tournament – and it was on full display during Tuesday’s 3-0 dismantling of Sweden.

After Kylian Mbappe’s superbly crafted opening goal, France’s all-time leading scorer ran straight towards his bench to embrace Didier Deschamps.

The head coach was back in the dugout for the first time since returning from France to attend the funeral of his mother.

It was a heartfelt moment.

Mbappe and Deschamps were then joined by the rest of the team. A group hug followed.

After an emotional few days, the smile was back on Deschamps’ face as his side turned on the style in the baking New Jersey heat to book a last-16 tie with Paraguay in Philadelphia on Saturday, 4 July (22:00 BST).

“This group is united and they delivered when I was not here [last week],” said Deschamps afterwards.

“The team spirit of this group doesn’t make you win matches. But I know if it’s the other way round, you can lose games. The collective strength is above everything.”

Midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni added: “We know the coach is going through a lot, we are trying to give everything to make him as happy as possible.”

Bradley Barcola made it 2-0 before Mbappe added his second to move level on six goals with Argentina’s Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.

“You cannot stop this kind of ability,” former England striker Ian Wright told ITV Sport.

“France are one of the most clear favourites I have ever seen in a World Cup tournament.”

Wright’s former Arsenal team-mate Patrick Vieira, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, added: “They showed to everyone that they are the team to beat.”

He was not wrong.

As well as Mbappe’s outstanding finishing, Michael Olise chipped in with another couple of assists to take his tally to five for the tournament, as France became the first team to score three or more goals in five straight World Cup matches.

It was a breathless display that left the 80,000 fans lucky to be inside the stadium asking: is anyone capable of stopping France’s Class of 2026?