Getty Draymond Green is introduced before a preseason game between the Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards.
The Golden State Warriors took down the Boston Celtics in last season’s NBA Finals, and now could help give the Celtics the final piece they need to win it all this season.
The December 23 episode of the Celtics Lab NBA Podcast identified Draymond Green as a potential trade-deadline target for the Celtics, especially with big man Robert Williams recently moving to the bench. Green was once seen as a potential trade prospect for the Warriors, and the team’s current stretch without Steph Curry could determine whether they are buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.
Green to the Eastern Conference?
The report noted that the Celtics could see Green as a potential upgrade to Williams, who lacks Green’s skills at facilitating the offense. After Williams worked his way back from a knee injury that kept him sidelined for the first several weeks of the season, head coach Joe Mazzulla suggested that he keep coming off the bench rather than rejoin the starting lineup.
“We’ve fluctuated the starting lineup a little bit throughout the year, which I think has given us some flexibility,” Mazzulla said, via The Athletic. “But we’ve found some consistency in what we have now, and I think it’s just a matter of, if it makes sense, we’ll do it. And if it doesn’t, we won’t.”
“That’s why Draymond is the smartest defensive player I’ve ever seen.”
Steve Kerr praised Draymond Green for a critical moment late in last night’s game 👏
Green is in the midst of a strong season, averaging 8.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists in 30.8 minutes per game.
Warriors Entering Key Stretch of the Season
Golden State’s trade deadline plans could hinge on what happens over the next several weeks, a stretch where Steph Curry will remain out of the lineup while nursing a shoulder injury. Though they are on the fringes of the playoff bracket at 17-18, the Warriors are just six games out of first place in a very tightly packed Western Conference.
While Green would give the Celtics a key upgrade in the frontcourt, it’s not clear whether the Warriors would be willing to part with him. Despite some tension within the franchise after Green’s training camp altercation with teammate Jordan Poole, the team did not seem inclined to put the veteran big man on the trade block. ESPN’s Zack Lowe reported on November 2 that the Warriors “have not engaged in any trade talks centered on Green, and don’t plan to as of now.”
That sentiment could change. A Western Conference executive told Heavy Sports insider Sean Deveney that there was a “pretty strong” chance that Green would leave the Warriors after this season, when he will hit free agency.
“If they win a championship again this year, there will be pressure to keep things together, but the stuff with the punch [on Jordan Poole] in the preseason, that probably put the nail in it,” the executive said. “There was already a good chance he would go just because his production is not what it was and he is getting older [32]. It would be hard to justify paying him $20-something-million a year.”
Trading Green would also require the Warriors to dismantle the “two timeline” plan to stay in title contention around Green, Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins while building a team to contend in the future around young stars like Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, and James Wiseman.