There’s a major backdrop for Draymond Green and the defending champion Golden State Warriors leading up to their regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
Green was fined by the team after getting into an altercation with teammate Jordan Poole during training camp practice. The situation was pretty ugly with the four-time NBA champion throwing and landing a punch right on Poole’s face.
Almost immediately after this incident, Poole signed a four-year, $140 million contract extension with Golden State — leading to questions about Green’s own future in Northern California.
On the eve of their opener, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Green will “almost assuredly” exercise his $27.6 million contract option for the 2023-24 season.
“For Draymond Green, with that $27-and-a-half million option next season, almost assuredly he’s going to exercise that. Not sure that that money is going to be in a long-term deal—he’s in his mid-30s—available in the marketplace. Listen, two years left on his deal, and there can be room for an extension at the end of those two years or a new deal that probably is south of that $27-and-a-half, $28 million—perhaps isn’t a raise off of that.”
Report on Draymond Green contract situation
Prior to the aforementioned injury, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Green would opt out of his deal and become a free agent next summer. Now, it seems that Green’s potential on the NBA free-agent market has taken a big-time hit. That’s the only reasonable explanation for this change of mindset on the part of the star forward.
Related: Why the Golden State Warriors shouldn’t trade Draymond Green
Draymond Green contract and future with the Golden State Warriors
In addition to Poole landing his extension with Golden State this past weekend, Andrew Wiggins inked a four-year, $109 million contract of his own. While that’s below what Wiggins would have received on the market next summer, it creates some major financial hurdles for the free-spending Warriors.
With Poole, Wiggins, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson all locked up long-term and Green now likely set to return in 2023-24, the Warriors’ entire payroll is going to be a projected $483 million. These are the finances Golden State must deal with.
From a broader perspective, the question now becomes whether Green makes sense long-term given his regression and the drama he’s causing. The four-time NBA champion did apologize to Poole for the incident and the two sides are attempting to move forward.
“There’s a huge embarrassment that comes with (it). Not only for myself, as I was the one who committed the action … but the embarrassment that Jordan has to deal with and that this team has to deal with, this organization has to deal with. But also Jordan’s family. His family saw that video. His mother, his father saw that video. If my mother saw that video, I know how my mother would feel.”
Draymond Green on Jordan Poole incident
Green, 32, averaged 7.5 points to go with 7.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists on 53% shooting for the Warriors last season. They open up their quest for a repeat against LeBron James and the Lakers Tuesday evening at the Chase Center in San Francisco.