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Opinion
Draymond Green will forever be part of Golden State’s golden era but the time has come for the Warriors to ship him out.
He’s always been fiery, ultra competitive and an integral part of their unprecedented era of success in the form of four championships in eight years.
But the Warriors need to get him out while the going is good, as in before his trade value falls through the floor.
His stupid and selfish actions during Golden State’s game two loss to Sacramento is the latest example of why the Warriors should no longer tolerate Green’s behaviour.
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Green got tangled up with Domantas Sabonis and the Kings centre was in the wrong by grabbing onto the Warriors veteran’s leg as he tried to head back the other way downcourt.
Jordan Poole is congratulated by Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
But it was a boneheaded move by Green to then take the opportunity to stomp on his opponent’s chest as he tried to get away.
Did he honestly think he’d get away with it? Is he unaware of the existence of replay footage? By the way, NBA Commissioner was also sitting courtside. Talk about bad timing.
He was rightly ejected just when the Warriors had all the momentum late in a crucial stage of the match. The revved-up home crowd then inspired the Kings to victory and a 2-0 series lead.
A 1-1 split in Sacramento would have made the reigning champs clear favourites to advance past the first round.
But now the Warriors head into Friday’s third game on their home floor in San Francisco with their best defender suspended over yet another unnecessary cheap shot.
The same player who kicked Steven Adams in the groin and punched LeBron James in that area during the 2016 Finals, which triggered a suspension which led to Golden State becoming the first team in history to give up a 3-1 lead.
It’s the kind of on-ball defence that everyone can do without.
Add in the pre-season incident when he punched younger and much smaller teammate Jordan Poole and it’s amazing the Warriors have persisted with Green for so long.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr is a man of great patience and he’s tolerated plenty from Green, knowing that his enforcer in the paint will bring the defensive physicality to support the offensive output of historically brilliant shooters Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
The franchise had a chance to extend Green’s contract last off-season but opted to do a four-year deal worth $128 million with Poole.
Although the deal was announced a week after the pre-season punch, the tension between the two teammates over who was going to get paid was clearly part of Draymond’s anger as he lashed out at the young guard.
Of course it’s way too early to bring down the curtain on the Warriors’ dynasty or their chances of beating the Kings.
Curry and Klay could very well shoot them to victory in game three and as long as they keep defending their home court they just need to steal a game down the road at Sacramento against an inexperienced team in the franchise’s first playoff run in 17 years.
Nothing short of an unlikely fifth title since 2014 should convince the Warriors to keep No.23 on the roster.
He is entering the final year of his contract worth $28m and with the Warriors paying huge luxury tax bills, they should be shopping him for a trade in the summer.
Green still has value even though he’s 33 and not as athletic as when he was the undisputed best defender in the NBA.
A team like Dallas who are desperate to convince Luka Doncic to commit long term would give up plenty for Green.
And the Warriors’ main aim in a trade package for Green should be reducing salary, getting another defensive-minded big and possibly a draft pick or two even if they’re not great ones.
They’ve been trying to follow the San Antonio model of an extended dynasty as the Spurs did from 1999-2014 centred around Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Duncan and Ginobili retired as Spurs while Parker left for a final season in Charlotte as the franchise tried to make the transition into a new era with Dejounte Murray running the point before giving him up to Atlanta for a tanking rebuild this season in the hope of winning the draft lottery to land French phenomenon Victor Wembanyama.
Draymond Green steps over Domantas Sabonis. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Golden State have been trying to make the jump into a second phase of success with a trio of draft lottery picks in James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody.
But the Wiseman No.2 pick from 2020 was a bust (LaMelo Ball was just sitting there) and he’s already been offloaded to Detroit while Kuminga and Moody project to be solid role players rather than foundation corner pieces.
And with his still youthful looks it’s easy to forget that Curry is 35 while Thompson, despite being a couple of years younger, has lost a step after his ACL and Achilles injuries.
If the Warriors hold any hope of adding to their trophy cabinet before those two Hall of Famers retire their best course of action is to jettison Green while he still has value rather than give up their other traceable asset in All-Star forward Andrew Wiggins, who is still in his prime at 28 and also has the added bonus of not being a serial troublemaker.