Getty Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors won a championship last year – their fourth in the past eight seasons. Unfortunately for them and their fanbase, they’ve been dealing with a slew of bad news and bad rumors ever since then.
Some of those rumors were subdued when Jordan Poole (four years, $140 million) and Andrew Wiggins (four years, $109 million) signed extensions, but there are still some issues the team has to deal with. Obviously, their slow start to the season has contributed to the issues, but the Draymond Green/Poole situation was a huge deal, too.
And the ramifications of that incident are still being felt throughout the organization. According to sources who spoke with Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports, the Warriors are “not all in” on a future with Green on the roster.
“Yeah, there has never been a sense that they were ready to move on from Draymond, but that has changed in the last couple of months,” the Western Conference executive told Deveney. “They gave out the extensions [to Poole and Wiggins], and that was a pretty clear sign like, OK, we’re not all in on Draymond from here out.”
So far this season, Green has averaged 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.4 assists on 59.6% shooting from the field and 30.0% shooting from behind the three-point line.
Warriors Stars ‘On Board’ With Plan
That’s not where the speculation surrounding green ends, though. Golden State would have a hard time letting him walk if their stars didn’t approve of the move. However, the executive made an important note about Stephen Curry’s and Klay Thompson’s feelings.
They said that Curry and Thompson are likely “on board” with moving on from Green.
“If Draymond had been a good soldier all the way, maybe they plan to work it out with him. But everything that happened gave them the opening to move on from him, and the other guys are going to be OK with it,” the executive told Sean Deveney. “Individually, I am not sure anyone would say Steph or Klay is fed up or anything, but the organization is more in a position to move on from him, and you have to think that would not be the case if they did not think Steph and Klay were on board.”
Green drove a wedge between himself and the organization after his incident with Poole. While he apologized for his actions, there was clearly a level of respect that was lost.
Warriors Warned By Green
Earlier this season, Green sent the Warriors a warning about not giving him an extension. He said that they need to deal with the consequences of not getting one done before the start of the season.
“If you’re going to let a contract situation linger, then you better be damn sure that you’re willing to handle all the effects of a contract lingering, that it can have on a team,” Green said. “Everybody don’t do that. We’ve seen LeBron James have contract situations, we’ve seen Stephen Curry have contract situations. They handle it the way it’s supposed to be handled. Can’t say that for everyone.”
For now, Green seems content with helping the Warriors push for another title, but heading into next summer, things could get ugly.
