The future of Draymond Green is one of the biggest free agency talking points of the NBA offseason. Green has spent his entire career with the Warriors after being drafted in 2012. However, 2023-24 represents a player option year for Green’s $99.6 million contract. 2022-23 was a sub-optimal year for Green, who admitted that he lost the locker room after his viral fight with Jordan Poole.
However, the Warriors had been eager to retain him. Despite criticizing Green for the Poole fight, head coach Steve Kerr said he was eager to have Green back next year. Furthermore, sources indicated that Steph Curry was eager to run it back with “The Big Three” (him, Green, and Klay Thompson) for at least one more year. However, major news has now broken about the potential future of Green with Golden State.
Warriors Will Fight To Retain Green
Per Marc J. Spears of ESPN, the Warriors expect Green to decline his player option year, valued at $27.5 million. “The Warriors expect Draymond Green to opt out of the final year of his $26 million contract,” Spears stated. “But Joe Lacob, [Mike] Dunleavy, the Warriors are going to do everything in their power, if he does as expected, to bring him back.” The Warriors are currently over $100 million over the cap. This could pose a problem in making Draymond a competitive offer on the free agency market.
As mentioned by Spears, the job of retaining Green, if he does decline the option, falls on newly-appointed GM Mike Dunleavy. While Dunleavy is a long-time Warriors exec, it’s unclear what sort of relationship he was with Green. His predecessor, Bob Myers, was seen as the “Draymond Whisperer”. However, declining his option year will allow other teams to pursue Green as well. Furthermore, this could see a major contender or cap-friendly team make a big offer to bring in the veteran big man. Do you think Draymond will stay with Golden State? Let us know in the comments. Follow all the latest sports news here at HotNewHipHop.
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