Warriors forward Draymond Green admits he may have crossed the line into tampering with comments he made Friday on “Inside the NBA” calling for Suns star Devin Booker to force his way out of Phoenix, writes Sam Quinn of CBS Sports. Booker has been one of the top performers in Orlando, leading the Suns to four straight wins and keeping them in the playoff race, but Green doesn’t believe he has a bright future if he remains with the franchise.
“It’s great to see Book playing well and Phoenix playing well, but get my man out of Phoenix,” Green said. “It’s not good for him, it’s not good for his career. Sorry Chuck (Charles Barkley), but they’ve gotta get Book out of Phoenix. I need my man to go somewhere that he can play great basketball all of the time and win, because he’s that kind of player.”
Asked by co-host Ernie Johnson if his comments constituted tampering, Green laughed and replied, “Maybe.”
Green has been openly critical of the Suns before, Quinn notes. In the preseason, he blasted them for giving up too early on lottery pick Marquese Chriss, who turned in a career-best season for the Warriors.
“Let’s be frank about it,” Green said. “When (Chriss) was there, the organization was terrible. Everything was going wrong. But he get blamed, like he’s the problem. When he left, ain’t nothing go right. That’s my take on it.”
Green has a reputation for reaching out to stars from other teams, most notably Kevin Durant after Golden State dropped the seventh game of the NBA Finals in 2016. Durant agreed to join the Warriors and captured two championships with them.
It would be difficult for Golden State or any other team to pry Booker out of Phoenix. He’s the centerpiece of the rebuilding effort in Phoenix and still has four seasons remaining on the maximum extension he signed in the summer of 2018.
While Green’s statement will attract scrutiny from the NBA office, the league has tended to overlook player comments and assess tampering fines only to team executives, observes Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports. He cites the example of LeBron James saying last year that he would like to have Anthony Davis as a teammate. The league responded by sending an anti-tampering memo to all 30 teams, but didn’t impose a fine on James.
Makes you wonder when Booker will start to see some criticism…winning 4 games in the Bubble is the most winning he’s done since he left Kentucky
Booker, Bridges, Oubre, and Ayton are all under 25 along with guys like Johnson and Rubio on affordable contracts. Phoenix should have cap space I think and another pick in the 1st half of the 1st round. Williams and James Jones odder stability as HC and GM. Nowhere to go but up for Phoenix. Give them time Draymond
Pheonix just trade your first rd pick for blake grifgin and I know you can be a western conference threat next year.
Half of a season from Griffin and maybe some playoffs is not worth his contract. It’s BIG3 time for Blake.
Maybe the Suns will trade Booker for Wiggins. Right Draymond?
Lol
Why did Warriors only interview Killian，Ball and Wiseman？
Steve Kerr said we are only interview the players we are interested
A few teams enjoy rebuild on rebuild
76ers tank a decade to draft Okafor，Fultz，Simmons and Embiid
Offseason they have to dump salary by giving away picks like candy
They really need to drop the hammer on Draymond Green. Either that or get rid of the tampering rule altogether. It’s obvious Green knows what he did was breaking the rule and he just laughed it off. No one is ever going to take the rules seriously if players just flaunt breaking them on television.
oh boohoo hiflew, your bias is showing. were you equally outraged when LJ spoke publicly about AD? Everyone knows the tampering rule is more a guideline than a punitive measure. grow up.
To quote your avatar… “It doesn’t matter what you think.” Have a nice day.
Its not tampering if you do not say he needs to play on my team. Booker will not be traded to GSW. Green is saying that the Suns are dysfunctional. Suns need a plan to reach the playoffs not keep drafting the best player and watch them leave. Know what to draft to make your team better.
Found Draymond Green’s account. Must have picked up a few things from his best friend Durant about online accounts. Shut up Draymond. Don’t say things then cry about it later when you get to deal with consequences of your actions.
Golden State fans be like “were trading our lottery pick and Wiggins for Booker”
5 worst team in the west next year
Wolves nobody plays defense
Pelicans Injured
Grizzlies too young
Suns Sell players for cash
Kings not good enough
I’ll part ways with GM or coach for these 5 teams
And most of those teams are still way better than the Cavs, Knicks, Bulls, Hornets, and Pistons. It’s hard just to compete in the West.
You just gotta love Draymond! The guy is sooo likeable! I think it would be a shame for PHO to loose D-Book… but c’mon guys he has been already a number of years balling out at above All-Star level & he ain’t getting recognized for it or getting some playoff time neither… might very well be the time to go as good ole Dray says. I would love him in MIN or if PHO doesn’t wanna trade in conference, PHI then!
Draymond ain’t wrong either.
If Booker wants to succeed as a basketball player and be remembered then he needs to win more games and go to more playoff series.
Yes that sums team has potential and everyone is young and improving but maybe it’s in the best interest to make a big trade.
Suns will obviously get a great return and can continue to build. Booker can join a team and compete for a title.
I’ve got two ideas.
How about Booker for Brandon Ingram (sign and trade), the 14th pick in the draft, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart.
Pelicans pair Devin Booker with Zion Williamson as their future with Jrue Holiday, JJ Reddick, Jaxson Hayes, NAW as their other pieces.
Suns in this deal would get even more good young players. Ball Hart Oubre Bridges Johnson Ingram and Ayton make up a big young core of players and with two picks in the top 15 maybe they make a second trade. Like Rubio, Oubre, Johnson and the 10th pick for Zach LaVine and Thad Young. Which gives them a line up of Ball LaVine Ingram Young and Ayton.
The second idea I had was, Jamal Murray, Gary Harris and this years first for Ricky Rubio and Devin Booker.
Nuggets get to pair Booker with Jokic and the emerging Porter Jr as their future big 3.
The Suns on the other hand get Murray Harris and a pick which keeps them young and competitive.
Ingram says no, Denver says no.
Ingram has to take the max if the pelicans offer it to him and after which the Pelicans get to trade him if he likes it or not.
As for the second deal, it really depends on who the nuggets prefer Jamal Murray or Devin Booker. For me If take Booker by a landslide over Murray
Sorry I meant Suns say no to loosing Booker… unless he takes Dray’s lead and turns into an unhappy camper. But Suns may be on the right track.
There’s a moratorium on trading a signed player I think one year. I guess the Pels could trade Ingram after that.
Absolutely it’s all about Booker but if he does want out then that’s my suggestion.
I personally think Booker should better himself and leave. Yes the suns are slowly turning it around but they are still light years away from being a real threat like the Clippers Bucks and Celtics and so on.
Booker if he’s lucky might make 1 or 2 playoffs series if he stays which is a waste of his career. If he links up with Zion then all of a sudden you have two of the leagues best young talents you have a real shot at success. Zion and Booker plus other pieces that’s potentially a championship caliber team.
He’s not wrong. PHO is pretty terrible and Booker isn’t winning anything there.
Let the ridiculous hypothetical trade ideas begin…
There’s a HUGE difference between recruiting a free agent or FA-to-be, and recruiting a player under contract while encouraging fraud.
HUGE
Not the same thing for comparison.
he just said he needs to get out of PHX, not that he needs to go to GS. so it’s a stretch that’s tampering. HUGE stretch. HUGE.
I had fogotten about Trump and his ways in typing that! It must have been a beautiful time. HUGE.
I’ve gotta say I’m no Suns fan but I really don’t think they’re anywhere near as ‘hopeless’ as Green seems to be implying they are. I mean Oubre has emerged as a legitimate player and they have Ayton who looks like a legit star in the making. You take those two alongside Booker and they have the makings of a pretty solid, and very young core. That doesn’t even take into account Bridges who definitely still has the possibility of emerging as a legitimate player as well and I really don’t think the Suns are in all that bad of a spot to be honest. Don’t get me wrong they aren’t exactly a championship team either… but it’s not like Booker is stuck on some team with absolutely no talent around him… and the talent that is around him is extremely young and could blossom into much better players going forward.
Problem is in the NBA by the time a player develops into a allstar he is to expensive. Suns should use the draft pick for either bring in a good veteran or draft a foreign player that has already develop into a good player. 3 years from now all that talent are free agents and they will need to choose who to keep.
If Booker really wants to leave the Suns why did he sign his contract extension. He could of gotten a max contract probably to any team he wants.
Dre needs to worry about his own team. They got 3 yrs. a That’s if they make right moves. Not big on Wiggins staying there. We’ll see.
Booker is NOT going anywhere. Where is this from. Why would Suns. Why would any team if they had Booker. Trade him away now. Now when he’s stepping into top players in NBA. Why ???? Get a Grip
Booker ain’t going anywhere. Ayton just got here. He hasn’t even played much here. Suns should try and get Lonzo. Or get Holiday. That gets them to upper half of playoffs in west. Dinwiddie sure would look good next to Booker. Booker staying forever lols