Getty DeAndre Jordan #6, Draymond Green #14, Kyle Lowry #7, DeMar DeRozan #9 and Jimmy Butler #4 of United States react during the Men's Preliminary Round Group A between Australia and the United States on Day 5 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 10, 2016.
With the offseason now in full swing (besides the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving drama), there is not too much news these days. Leave it up to media superstar Draymond Green to generate content during the dog days of the summer.
On his most recent episode on “The Draymond Green Show”, the Golden State Warriors‘ star had DeMar DeRozan of the Chicago Bulls as a guest. They touched on numerous topics including his participation in the Drew League with LeBron James and his mental health struggles.
After the Lakers refused to pursue DeRozan, he talked about how he had no idea where he would play. Green recalls checking in with him daily to make sure he was doing ok. With the mental health struggles that DeRozan had talked about in the past, it makes sense why Green would make sure his good friend was in a good head space.
Green then dropped a bombshell during their conversation on the podcast.
“The conversation turned to ‘Come to the Warriors’ and you [DeRozan] were like, ‘F—, no. I’m not coming there. I’m not coming to play with y’all,'” Green says about their discussion last summer.
To add insult to injury, Green said that DeRozan could come and win a title with them, which the Bulls star admitted. And then in typical Draymond Green fashion, he chided Derozan’s decision even more.
“He didn’t come and we still won a championship,” Green added. “I had to throw that one out there.”
No Way Warriors Could Have Outright Signed DeRozan
Unless DeRozan was willing to take a minimum contract, it was impossible the Warriors could afford the services of the five-time All-Star.
Since the Warriors won their fourth title in eight years, much of the chatter has been about their exponentially growing luxury tax as each year passes. The Warriors already had trouble retaining many of their role players from last season, so how could they realistically sign someone of DeRozan’s caliber?
The most logical option would have been a sign and trade arrangement with the Spurs that would likely have included Andrew Wiggins. At this time last season, Wiggins had not taken the leap into an All-Star caliber player, yet he was paid like one. There is no other realistic option that the Dubs could have attained DeRozan unless the Spurs were willing to take on Wiggins.
Not the First Time Draymond Green Recruited Stars to Warriors Allegedly
After the Warriors came back from a 3-1 deficit to take down the Thunder in 2016, Green started to actively recruit Durant. There have been claims that Green started to recruit Durant in the parking lot just after the Warriors lost Game 7 in the Finals. Durant refuted those claims in 2017 while he was still with the Warriors.
However, Durant did not deny that Green actively tried to recruit him soon after the game.
“No, he didn’t make that call,” Durant emphasized. “Not right after the game.”
Regardless of when the recruiting was done, the Warriors won two titles in three seasons with Durant. The 2017 Warriors team has been regarded as one of the best ever and has often been compared to the 1996 Bulls, as Green did recently.