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Draymond Green has spent his entire career with the Golden State Warriors, and one NBA front office expert thinks the 33-year-old forward is going to finish his career with the team, as well.
Keith Smith of Spotrac and the NBA Front Office podcast appeared on 95.7 The Game’s “Steiny & Guru” show on March 20 and told co-hosts Matt Steinmetz and John Dickinson — who was sitting in for regular host Daryle ‘The Guru’ Johnson — his thoughts on Green’s future with the Warriors.
The Dubs selected Green in the second round of the draft back in 2012 and he has been a huge part of each of the team’s four NBA championships. Green is in the third year of his four-year, $99.7 million deal (all contract numbers courtesy of Spotrac), which has a $27.6 million option that he can choose to opt out of in order to sign another multi-year contract.
Smith predicts Green will opt out, but that doesn’t mean Dray will go anywhere.
Smith: Green & Dubs ‘Better Together’ Than They Would Be Apart
“I think he’s gonna opt out for sure,” Smith said, via 95.7 The Game’s Alex Espinoza. “I don’t know that he leaves, though. I think this might be one where he opts out and all sides kinda realize, ‘Hey, we’re better together than we would be apart.’ And then come together on some kind of more reasonable contract that keeps him on Golden State for probably the rest of his career.”
A four-time All Star, Green is currently averaging 8.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 31.5 minutes a game (stats via Basketball Reference). Smith also took a shot at predicting what Green’s next contract with Golden State could look like.
“I think we’re probably talking about that three (years) and $60-ish (million) range,” Smith said. “Something like that. Because what that would do, that allows him to add more guaranteed money than he’d make, obviously at a lower number, which helps the team out and reduces that luxury tax payment. But he’ll add more money long-term. Because for Draymond Green now, it’s starting to turn into, a lot more about years than it is about dollars at this point in his career. I think it’ll be, ‘Let’s stretch this out for the next three years and lock up my remaining productive years in my career and we’ll go forward. And just try to keep this moving like we always have.'”
You can check out Smith’s comments on Green in the video below.
Warriors Recently Broke Out of Dreadful Road Slump
Golden State is currently in sixth place in the Western Conference with a 37-36 mark. The Dubs are a half-game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks and a full game in front of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the standings, so it’s important to keep winning if they want to avoid the play-in tournament.
The Warriors just ended their longest road skid in franchise history when they beat the Houston Rockets on March 20. The win over Houston ended Golden State’s 11-game streak of consecutive road losses, so the Dubs may be heating up at just the right time.
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