Bill Simmons’ Trade Proposal Swaps Warriors’ Draymond Green for Rim-Running Center

Getty Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors runs to the locker room.

As Draymond Green works his way back to the NBA’s good graces following his indefinite suspension, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons bats for the Golden State Warriors to trade him for a rim-running center.

“I have one really fun trade. … Draymond Green straight up for Jarrett Allen,” Simmons said on the December 19 episode of his “The Bill Simmons” podcast.”

Allen is eight years younger than Green, whose volatile behavior wrecked the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals and doomed last season’s campaign with his punch to Jordan Poole. And now he’s indefinitely suspended for his series of wild ejections this season, the latest was a strike to Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic’s face.

Green is currently undergoing counseling as part of the conditions for his return.

The Warriors have racked up three straight wins and are now 3-1 since Green’s suspension. A big part of that is the emergence of rookie big man Trayce Jackson-Davis, whose pick-and-roll skills and rim protection have come in handy for the Warriors.

Why Trade Proposal Makes Sense

Allen, an All-Star center for the Cleveland Cavaliers two seasons ago, is a taller and savvier version of the Warriors rookie.

The 6-foot-11 Allen is currently averaging 13.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.0 blocks.

“Take Draymond, Donovan Mitchell stays in Cleveland. Jarrett Allen subsides with Golden State,” Simmons continued. “Just the straight-up trade. I was trying to think who would say no to that and I took a while. I don’t even know. I think Golden State [would say no] just because of the [Stephen] Curry piece. I don’t think Curry wants Draymond traded but I don’t know.”

Simmons argued that the Cavalier’s motivation should be to keep Donovan Mitchell from leaving. Green, 33, will give them the toughness and identity that they lacked — a big reason why the New York Knicks bounced them in the first round last season.

“Draymond next to [Evan] Mobley makes more sense than Allen next to Mobley,” Simmons explained. “We now have a defensive identity and a leader. We didn’t have that before. The counter would be why the (expletive) would you trade for Draymond he looks like he’s losing his mind.”

Allen is on the third season of a $100 million, five-year deal. Green is on the first season of a $100 million, four-year deal.

Stephen Curry Pushes Back on Breaking up Dynasty Core

After dropping 33 points, including the sensational dagger 3 to beat the league’s top team, the Boston Celtics, Curry pushed back on the narrative that the Warriors should break up their dynasty core.

“It’s been like that for years now,” Curry said to end his postgame presser. “Even before we won the ’22 championship. They always find something to nitpick and that’s because there are expectations for us to win.”

The talks grew louder after a series of blown leads, their stars struggling, and then came Draymond Green‘s indefinite suspension.

“So you kind of take that in stride,” Curry said, “and for me, my approach is to dumb it down to what I said when we were in [Los Angeles] is just trying to figure out how to win a game at a time and give yourself some momentum, some confidence and some energy to get to a point… where you show as a team to be a serious threat to win a playoff series.”

The Warriors have won their last three games to improve to 13-14, one game behind the 10th-seed Phoenix Suns in the West.