An ESPN report this week suggested that Draymond Green is unlikely to seriously consider leaving the Warriors in free agency this summer and that the more likely outcome is that he’ll either pick up his $27.7MM player option or turn it down in order to sign a new multiyear contract with Golden State.
Speaking to Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard, Green suggested he has a path in mind, though it came with the caveat that he, agent Rich Paul, and the team still need to sit down and talk the situation through.
“Rich and I discussed it a couple months ago briefly,” Green said. “We haven’t talked much about it because we don’t deal with those things until the offseason. But I think in an ideal world, and again, this is me talking without me talking to my representation so Rich will probably kill me. But in an ideal world, I think the best path would be to decline and extend. If I had it my way, that would be the best path forward.”
A scenario in which Green declines that option in order to sign a new contract could benefit both him and the Warriors. The veteran forward would likely receive an overall guarantee exceeding $27.7MM while earning multiyear security, and Golden State could reduce his 2026/27 salary in order to create more cap flexibility for the coming season.
That added cap flexibility, in turn, would be useful if the Warriors go star-hunting this summer, a path that wouldn’t surprise Green.
“Playing for a great organization with a great ownership group and a great front office group like we have, those possibilities are always there,” he told Kawakami. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it big-name hunting. (Team owner) Joe (Lacob) is just always trying to win. And whatever is going to give him the best possible chance to win, that’s what he’s going to win. If that’s a big name, if that’s a small name, whatever is going to give him the best possible chance to be a winner. That’s what he’s going to do. And you have to know that in playing here.”
Green, candid as ever, offered up several more interesting tidbits during his conversation with Kawakami. While the story is worth checking out in full for Warriors fans, here are a few additional highlights:
On how long he and longtime teammate Stephen Curry will continue playing:
“When we do speak about it, we speak of it in terms of summers. ‘How many more summers am I willing to give to this?’ Because ultimately, that’s what it boils down to, right? How many more summers am I taking away from things with my kids? How many more summers am I willing to build my whole life around preparing for an NBA season?
“… We don’t speak on it in the sense of, ‘Man, how many years I’m going to go, how long till you walk out, do we walk out together?’ We haven’t discussed it in that manner. What we do discuss is, ‘Man, how many more summers do you think you could do this?’ … And quite honestly, the last we spoke about it, we both agreed we had two or three more summers. So we’ll see.”
On his belief that head coach Steve Kerr will be back for 2026/27:
“We don’t want to play for anyone else. We built this thing together. Just as much impact as Steph Curry has had, as I’ve had, as Klay (Thompson) had, Steve’s had. We built this thing up from the ground. … I think when you look at (him) not signing an extension, I think Steve sits in the same place I sit. I’m not going to do anything that straps this team. I’m not going to do anything that handcuffs this organization. I think Steve sits in that same place. So when he didn’t sign an extension, none of us made much of it because we know he should and will have the choice to be here. And we all want to finish with him.”
On how he wants his Warriors tenure to eventually end:
“I’ve seen too many guys leave a place and it’s nasty. And I just don’t understand why it’s that way. It don’t have to be that way. So I want to make sure that whenever my time is up here, that it ends the way it’s supposed to end. That it doesn’t end with me bitter, with them bitter. It ends the way it’s supposed to end: Everybody’s happy, we’ve done great things, and we move forward.”
Same story different day. Warriors don’t extend Greymond under any circumstance. They’ll let him opt in, play his 1 year and be done.
Of course, there is a slight chance they finesse his contract situation for the purposes of trading him. But that’s not likely.
Nah they’ll likely extend b/c if he picks up his option that will restrict their flexibility to spend on other players in the offseason. It’s pretty clear they want him here, idk what you’re on about
I agree. Your likely best chance to win will be next season, and so spreading out that money into the future would make way more sense, especially since at that point the Warriors could conceivably be transitioning to or at least getting ready for a rebuild. They will need every free dollar they can get their hands on.
Yes, that’s a great point. Extending him and lowering the annual definitely helps get other or even better players on the roster. Agree with you both on that.
Give him a 2 year $40 million deal and 2nd year is a player option. That saves warriors money and gives him the option to leave. The other thing to consider his agent is same as LeBrons so will LeBron try to get Green to go where he goes???
Wholeheartedly agree with you Gary. One and done.
With how badly Draymond has played this year, he should not be talking about extensions and instead readying a farewell tour for next season. His quickness and instincts have fallen off a cliff this year. “Draymond passes…into the stands” is as common as “2 FTs for Shai”.
If he somehow figures out how to stop asking for passes when there’s a taller guy on him, or stops throwing the ball into the stands, or stops having his passes picked next year, he might be worth a $10M a year deal as a role player, but he seems hell bent on playing with washed up Kerr as head coach, so they can keep throwing all these winnable games away together.
GSW does not -have- to have an aging washup problem, GSW -chooses- to have an aging washup problem. Lacob needs to go if he thinks this is a reasonable gameplan. Sell the team if you think Kerr and Dray are the answer. This offseason Lacob and MDJ should trade Dray, Podz and a first for someone younger, healthier and more useful, there are plenty of guys out there who fall under that umbrella. Get Trey Murphy III, not Kawhi. TM3 is a perfect system fit.
It’s so complicated. Dray is a Warriors legend 1st ballot hall of famer. Curry, Kerr, Lacob mostly want him here. And there’s value in him to all the parties of him also being 1 team player…. It really all depends on whether team wants to do total build and if Curry wants to stay and not retire.
The organization seems to indicate they want to hold on to Curry and pretend to contend for another 2-3 yrs unfortunately. In that scenario, there is a plausible chance for Dray to extend than not. He’a already guaranteed for 27.8m. Add another 2 yrs at 10m per. That’s about $48m for the next 3 yrs. His extension for 3 yrs will be no less than $48m, prolly even as high as $54m.
Please dont say that dray is only worth minimum. He’s still few yrs away from that. Iggy made much more than $10m at end of his career aside from his final yr.
As for Green, he gets to stay in nba for 3 yrs, still be relevant, make a bit more money, not to mention endorsements.
It all depends on what they will do with Curry this offseason.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
In my perfect world I decline my 1 year $27M commitment from GS and in turn they give me 3 years at $22M while I steadily decline!
Draymond is perfectly fine if this team flops and fails every which way from Monday to Sunday so long as he gets paid to be there. His legacy is cemented. Just cashing checks until it’s TV time.