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- CLUTCH Summary: NBA free agency has come and gone, with Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green kicking ‘trade Draymond' narratives to the curb, signing a lucrative with the franchise.
- Even with that being the case, as the NBA is a silly group, should the Warriors ever reconsider the trade Draymond narrative?
- Twitter says one thing, the Draymond Green Another, all with the fate resting in the hands of the Warriors.
The latest lip-reading marvel to come from the expert grounds of the Twitterverse reveals an angry Steve Kerr allegedly saying he is “sick of Draymond's s**t.”
This isn't the first time those words have been uttered by Golden State Warriors fans, especially for those who have watched the jack-of-all-trades undersized forward go from a catalyst at both ends of the floor into a rampaging angry stomper, more concerned with arguing calls with the referees and flexing his muscles during his now vintagely stellar defensive plays than propelling this team to wins.
Green isn't only upsetting fans, but also his teammates and coaches, which now begs the question: Is this upcoming offseason the time to trade him?
Lips don't lie
Steve Kerr refused to answer comments on the lip-reading after Sunday's loss to the Phoenix Suns, and he tried to make light of the situation on Monday while also saying he had a “private” conversation with Green.
But let's remember: This is hardly the first time these two have butted heads.
Rewind to Feb. 27, 2016, a road game in which a 52-5 Warriors team was trailing a Kevin Durant-led Oklahoma City Thunder by 11 at the half. Green was 0-for-8 from the field, including 0-for-3 from deep, which only caused frustration in Kerr, who had tried to keep him away from the arc through their short time together.
That frustration showed in the bowels of Chesapeake Energy Arena, as the visiting locker room was inundated by a shouting match between Green and Kerr, resulting in the former yelling “I'm not a machine” in response to Kerr's criticism of his reckless 3-point attempts.
Green would not take another shot throughout the game to finish with two points, 14 rebounds, 14 assists, six steals and four blocks. This was overshadowed by Stephen Curry's miraculous 32-footer that sunk OKC in overtime, giving the Warriors a 121-118 road win and one of the most iconic moments of a 73-win regular season.
Since then, Green and Kerr have managed to get along, but they still have philosophical differences. Some of these have shown throughout this 2018-19 season as Green's play has decayed after three straight All-Star seasons.
This isn't to say Kerr isn't fond of Draymond, but the two just don't ideologically see eye-to-eye, which will cause some combustion from time to time. For that to take place with 16 games left on the season, it's likely something that has been irking Kerr for a while.
Efficiency issues
Green is undoubtedly having his worst season since becoming a full-time starter for this team, posting a meager 7.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 1.5 steals and just a block per game, which is a full house of mediocrity by his standards.
The seventh-year NBA forward is also shooting 43.3 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent from deep, despite being the lone starter who is constantly left wide open, playing alongside an All-Star studded lineup.
Sure, Green is getting less shots, as his 6.3 attempts per game are the least he has taken since his second season in the league. But a lot of his misses are coming on uncontested 3-point attempts, point-blank shots at the basket and backdoor cuts that often wind up stifled by aware opponents.
This poor offensive efficiency has resulted in Green not only wildly missing 3-pointers, but self-consciously passing up wide-open looks, to the point where a rushed relocation corner trey by Stephen Curry or a heavily contested wing triple from Klay Thompson are more fruitful options than Green gathering and taking his time to connect on a long-range shot.
Draymond has also grown more hesitant to finish at the rim or seek contact, as his early-season injury has made him more self-conscious of his decreased athleticism, resulting in a lack of aggression that has only equated to the rest of his teammates being forced to seek out a contested look before the shot clock expires.
The days of Green being a fortuitous 38.8 percent long-distance shooter, as he was once in 2015-16, are long gone. They show no sign of coming back, as his involvement in the team's scoring has dwindled over the years. Less shots, less repetition, less opportunities to hone his acumen.
Defensive lapses
As much as Draymond Green can show flashes of brilliance from time to time and remind us all of the NBA Defensive Player of the Year he was just a few years ago, it's very clear that the same never-ending engine that once fueled this championship roster is clearly not the same.
Green is seeing the effects of years of going against other top-level centers, despite giving up a clear size advantage to his opponents. That wear-and-tear is showing now, even at the ripe age of 29 years old.
His foul rate is up considerably from his recent years, with a foul coming every nine and a half minutes of play (3.3 fouls in 31.2 minutes per game). This has resulted in only more complaints to the refs, discussions that have taken his focus away from the game and put into an ongoing war with the men officiating the game, instead of the ones suiting up against him.
Green is still defensively sound, but his lack of physical explosion has kept him from the highlight-reel worthy transitions from one side of the ball to the other, plays that made him such a catalyst and an integral part of the team.
Draymond was once known as the heart and soul of the Warriors, but those days are slowly becoming a part of the past, making a future with him harder to envision.
Impending contract
Green is intent on getting the full amount of his next contract starting in 2020 and plans to give the Warriors no hometown discount after signing a five-year, $82 million deal with the team back in 2015, one he has since claimed was inked with the likelihood of acquiring Kevin Durant in mind.
Green won't garner NBA Defensive Player of the Year or All-NBA honors this season and likely won't next season, making a potential five-year supermax worth almost $230 million unrealistic, one which could have him make north of $50 million by age 35.
The thought of that is apocalyptic in every sense of the word, as Golden State could be rolling in a $300 million payroll bill if the front office chooses to do so.
Five years and $190-plus million is a likelier baseline that Green would be looking at under the current CBA, but still too fat a contract to dole out for someone who has already shown signs of nagging injuries and an increased decline in all-around performance.
With Klay Thompson bound for a potential max-or-bounce situation in this looming offseason, it's hard to fathom the Warriors being willing to pay Green the max he so badly seeks, especially when it would be based on merit rather than the fruits reaped in recent memory.
Future potential trade Draymond implications
The Warriors will already be doling out nearly as much money to Andre Iguodala next season ($17.2 million) as they are to Green in this one ($17.5 million). A similar circumstance is true for Shaun Livingston, who could make $7.7 million next season if he's not waived before the start of the upcoming free-agency period. If waived, only $2 million would be guaranteed.
Piece by piece, this Golden State roster will slowly have to come apart, as no championship core can stay intact forever.
The organization would be wise to make the most out of Green in hopes to three-peat this season and then package him — in our now infamous Trade Draymond dream — to a team that would consider signing him for the long haul as a gesture of good faith.
While the Warriors previously struck gold with the drafting of Curry, Thompson and even Harrison Barnes, their mining axe and excavation tools have run a little rusty, as recent findings like Patrick McCaw, Jordan Bell and Jacob Evans have been slow to flourish and are relatively mute in comparison to the stars the aforementioned blossomed into.
NBA teams often have to gauge their future decisions, but none will be more pivotal for the Warriors than a ‘trade Draymond' scenario and getting some workable bench pieces in return, as it has been the one aspect that has haunted this top-heavy team in recent years and one of the nuclear parts this roster once boasted as means of Strength In Numbers.
