There was no way of knowing Draymond Green would develop into a player making in excess of $16MM a year on his new five-year, $82MM deal, Warriors GM Bob Myers remarked recently, and Green admits he didn’t know how valuable he would become, either, observes Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com. Green was the 35th overall pick in 2012 and made the minimum salary last season.
“Yeah, I was thinking, like, maybe $7, $8MM,” Green said, according to Strauss. “Who saw this coming?”
The free agent market is never quite predictable, but the Warriors seem to have a handle on it even amid the rapid cost escalation for Green, as I examined earlier this week. See more from the Pacific Division:
- Kobe Bryant said this summer that he could envision himself playing overseas after his NBA career, but that’s not in his plans for now, as he told Marc Stein of ESPN.com within the past week. The Lakers star also said this week that he doesn’t see himself playing beyond the season, barring a change.
- The demanding nature of coach Byron Scott makes for a challenging adjustment, Nick Young posited as he talked about the struggles of offseason signee Lou Williams. Bill Oram of the Orange County Register has the details.
- Michael Malone cited the trouble the Kings have faced after his firing in response to a question about Houston’s dismissal of Kevin McHale this week, notes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “I can only speak to my experience [in Sacramento],” Malone said. “It was loud and clear that I didn’t lose the locker room. Once I got fired, the organization lost the team in a weird way.”