All-Star forward Draymond Green would be the last chip to fall in the Golden State Warriors' cluster of stars pending to re-sign with the team — but the former Defensive Player of the Year think he's in the best spot to determine his future. That is if it isn't determined for him first.
“I'm not sure how it plays out, but I think I'm in the best position out of everybody,” Draymond Green told ESPN's Sam Alipour in the latest edition of Hang Time. “Steph was up, now Klay and Kevin are up. That gives me the opportunity to see what everyone else does. And quite frankly, if I am the first to bounce, unless it's in 2020, it wouldn't be my decision. I can get traded. But I'm last. I should be the least of everyone's worries.”
Green doubled down on his desire to remain with the Warriors, something that he's expressed since signing with the team and leaving $12 million on the table with a five-year, $82 million deal as a free agent in 2015, following the team's first championship together.
Article Continues Below“I'd love to [stay],” said Green. “When you look around the league today, how many guys have been with one team? Kobe, Dirk [Nowitzki], Duncan, Manu [Ginobili]. It don't happen like that anymore. That'd be amazing. But at the end of the day, it's a business. Let the cards fall how they may.”
The Warriors are in a tight spot financially, already seeing the burdens of the repeater tax, which has forced their hand at keeping only 14 players in the roster heading into the 2018-19 season. Matters could get even worse when doling out a handsome check to Klay Thompson and possible Kevin Durant, if he decides to stay.
Green is considered the engine that makes the team run, but he will be 30 by the time he becomes a free agent in 2020 — making a full-fledged long-term deal a somewhat questionable decision to make for the front office.