Has Draymond Green played his last game as a Golden State Warrior?
The Warriors’ long-time vocal leader made waves days ago when it was reported that he will be declining his player option for next season, which is far from a discount as it is worth $27.6 million. The move will make him an unrestricted free agent.
The opt-out doesn’t parallel with his statement last month:
“I want to be a Warrior for the rest of my life. I wanna ride out with the same dudes I rode in with … And I think we’ve put the work in to make that happen, and here we are with our worst season as a whole since 2014, and yet, we had a chance to make another run. It’s never as bad as it seems. It’s never as good as it seems.”
Neverthelesss, while it may not as be as huge as the other news this week, but it’s certainly one that will make you think if his tenure there is really over. After all, Green has had a tumultuous season in San Francisco, beginning with the Jordan Poole incident last October 2022, and continued with the assumed negative vibe generated from all of his questionable actions on the court – the stomp on Domantas Sabonis is one of many.
Further, there have been rumblings about some major changes after the disappointing second-round exit in this year’s playoffs, which was then followed by the departure of Bob Myers after a 12-year run.
True to off-season NBA gossip, murmurs about his possible plans began to shape up. Among the handful is Bill Simmons’s theory of Green and LeBron James going to the Dallas Mavericks to team up with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. What’s interesting is it was claimed back in late March:
“I think [Draymond Green] ends up in Dallas with Kyrie [Irving] and with Luka [Doncic] and then LeBron [James] tries to figure out a way to get there eventually… I don’t know, I’m just feeling a Dallas scent. There’s some Dallas stuff that feels ‘scenty’ to me.”
It’s a strange theory since the Mavericks rarely get any big names, and if they do, most don’t work out well. Still, while it’s easy to dismiss it as classic Simmons just throwing things at the wall, note that the man also predicted some moves correctly, most notably LeBron James going to the Lakers one year before he did. Also, let’s not forget that James and Green are both signed to Klutch Sports and basically BFFs, so much so that they are currently vacationing in France:
Now, before Laker fans get excited (or pissed), we can’t dismiss that Green still has a healthy amount of loyalty for the Warriors. He has spent his entire 11-year career there, and you have to imagine that they will not let their all-time player go that easy. It begins with head coach Steve Kerr, who appears to have a good relationship with Draymond and was just in his podcast weeks ago.
Kerr also said this about Green after they got eliminated:
“If Draymond’s not back, we are not title contenders.”
Lastly, just to make you think more, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski also reported that it’s not “posturing,” and the two parties are “destined” for a re-up.
It’s easier to predict Green staying with the Dubs, but then again, crazier things have happened, especially in free agency period. We’ll definitely add this to the list of highly anticipated moves this July.
