The last time the Warriors won the Pacific Division was the 1975/76 season, the year after they won their only championship since moving west. Golden State has a seven-game lead in the loss column for this year’s Pacific Division title, so it’s not surprising that there’s plenty of optimism about what lies ahead for the team, as we detail amid the latest on the Warriors and their division rivals:
- Coach Steve Kerr told KNBR-AM radio Monday that Draymond Green will be a part of the Warriors “for the next eight, 10 years,” notes Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). That’s seemingly a hint that Golden State intends to match offers for the soon-to-be restricted free agent. All signs point to the Warriors indeed matching any offer for Green, even if it costs them more than they’d like to pay and takes them into tax territory next season, as Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick of USA Today wrote recently.
- Suns camp invitee Earl Barron is signing with the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons of China, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported Monday that Barron had drawn an offer from China that was “too good to pass” on (Twitter link). Barron, who’s been playing for Phoenix’s D-League affiliate, is still holding out hope of hooking on with an NBA team after the season ends for the Dragons, Spears tweets, though the Chinese playoffs could last until mid-March
- Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers remains intent on waiting to sign players until “buyout season,” he said Monday, regardless of whether Matt Barnes has to miss any time with a strained abdominal muscle, according to Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). That clarifies a report from Markazi last week that indicated that Rivers expected to use the club’s pair of open roster spots on veterans next month. “Buyout season” takes place between the February 19th trade deadline and March 1st, the last day players can hit waivers and remain eligible to play with a new team in the postseason.
- We rounded up the latest on the Lakers earlier today.