One of the most important pieces of the Golden State Warriors dynasty, which just captured their fourth championship in eight years, has been four-time All-Star forward Draymond Green. However, it looks like Green now wants to be compensated accordingly for his impact on the court and it could lead to a tricky situation.
According to Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic, Green is looking for a max contract extension moving forward with the Warriors.
Draymond Green wants and believes he deserves a max contract extension, sources tell @anthonyVslater & @ThompsonScribe.
Including this coming season, such a deal would lock in Green for $164.2 million over five years.
What should the Warriors do?https://t.co/watYncDi7v pic.twitter.com/UyJhZtLHJW
— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) July 27, 2022
The Warriors will be able to offer Green an extension starting on August 3 should they choose to, and Green is reportedly looking for a four-year contract for the league max.
Green has one more year left on his contract with a player option the following year worth $27.5 million, but he clearly sees himself to be worth even more than that.
Many around the NBA world aren’t exactly sure that Green is worth a four-year max contract where he will turn 37 in the final year of the hypothetical deal.
The Warriors don't win without him.
But I don't think he's worth more than 15 million a year to any other team.
Paying a 37 year old Draymond green $50+ million is definitely not something any team would want to do either https://t.co/eUmgK33gr0
— DBG (@DBGyt_) July 27, 2022
Possibly, how they handle the Draymond Green extension will tell us a lot. He is a core home grown piece of this dynasty. They also have Poole and Wiggins coming up https://t.co/mDZYdDuIqC
— Rapper Big Pooh (@RapperBigPooh) July 27, 2022
Draymond Green asking for a max deal pic.twitter.com/oE0KaNO22a
— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) July 27, 2022
However, others see him as an irreplaceable member of the Warriors dynasty and think that the team could not survive without him.
Some really fascinating stuff in this article, and it certainly points towards the team potentially having to choose between keeping Draymond Green and keeping Andrew Wiggins.
Surely in the minority here, but keeping Dray, even with his age, feels like an easy choice to me. https://t.co/YCLDMrAgDI
— Brady Klopfer (@BradyKlopferNBA) July 27, 2022
draymond green is worth max money
5 year – $165 million— Glasses Malone (@gmalone) July 27, 2022
Green is a player who is extremely hard to determine a value for. On one hand, he is the backbone of what the team does defensively and is able to guard all five positions. However, he has not been much of an offensive threat for years now, only averaging 7.5 points per game while shooting 29 percent on three-point field goal attempts.
Golden State has plenty of time to make a decision, but Green is reportedly “willing to pursue other options” to get the contract that he is looking for. It would certainly be interesting to see a future in Golden State without Green, and it looks like that is at least a possibility moving forward.