The Draymond Green-Jordan Poole fight could have been much worse. Green sucker punched Poole in a Golden State Warriors practice but, luckily, doesn’t seem to have done serious harm to his teammate. Now, though, the speculation begins about whether the Warriors can keep both these players on the team. So, let’s make the best of a bad situation and have some fun with that. A Draymond Green trade making him teammates with LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers would probably be the most fascinating, fun, and hilarious outcome of this whole situation. There’s very little chance of this happening but for kicks and giggles, let’s look at an unrealistic trade that makes this happen, even though it definitely won’t happen (but would be pretty interesting for all three teams involved if it did).
Lakers get Draymond Green and Danny Green
The whole crux of this trade is to find a way to get Draymond Green and LeBron James as teammates on the LA Lakers. The problem is, there is no world — not even an unrealistic, fictional one — where the Lakers can get Green straight up.
To make a Draymond Green trade to the Lakers even make enough sense to have fun with it, a third NBA team needs to get involved.
Enter the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies (and their fans) like to think of the current team as the Warriors 2.0. They have a great young core of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane, who aren’t that unlike Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond back in the day.
This crew even pushed the Warriors to six games in the Western Conference semis last season, just like the Warriors did to the San Antonio Spurs back in the day.
However, Morant, Jackson, and Bane aren’t Curry, Thompson, and Green. The Grizzlies will need to shake it up a bit in order to take the next step. That’s why they get involved in this deal and send veteran championship chaser Danny Green to the Lakers.
Danny Green fits well (in the corner) of any team with title aspirations, and Draymond Green, with LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Patrick Beverley would be the most angry and aggressive NBA team of all time.
Sign me up for that!
Grizzlies get Anthony Davis, Jordan Poole, James Wiseman
So, what do the Grizzlies get back for getting involved in this fictitious trade? A star for now and a star for the future.
In this Draymond Green trade, the Grizzlies get Anthony Davis and James Wiseman. Davis won his championship in LA and now should get out from underneath LeBron James’ thumb. A Davis/Morant pairing would be excellent, and Davis would bring championship experience to the team.
As for Wiseman, he was the No. 2 pick of the 2020 NBA Draft for a reason. He’s young and raw but has lots of talent. He just isn’t a fit for the win-now Warriors. Wiseman will get a new lease on his NBA life by joining a young and fun team like the Grizzlies, which should help him reach his potential.
Finally, it takes two to tango, so let’s get Joran Poole out of Golden State, too. He was jawing with Draymond Green and was the first one to get physical. That means he’s out, plus, after a breakout season in 2021-22, Poole is a good replacement for Dillon Brooks, who the Grizzlies are sending to the Warriors.
Warriors get Jaren Jackson Jr., Dillon Brooks
Finally, the Warriors get back Jaren Jackson Jr. and Dillion Brooks for their troubles. Jackson is already three-quarters of the way to becoming the difference-making big man the Warriors thought Wiseman would be.
Yes, he has a foot injury that will cause him to miss the beginning of the season, but if the Warriors can get him back for the playoffs, a big like Jackson would add a new dimension to the teams. Also, Jackson just turned 23, so he fits the youth profile that the Warriors give up with Wiseman and Poole.
Lastly, the Warriors need a Poole replacement, and that comes in the form of Brooks from the Grizzlies. The two are remarkably similar players statistically, and while Brooks is a little older, he’s also a little bigger. And they both have a knack for stepping up in the playoffs when their teams need them the most.
So, there it is. A Draymond Green trade — which works financially — that makes him (and Danny Green) teammates with LeBron James on the Lakers, sends Anthony Davis, James Wiseman, and Jordan Poole to the Grizzlies, and brings back Jaren Jackson Jr. and Dillon Brooks.
What a great trade! C’mon, who says no?
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