Odds are that a left ankle sprain will keep Draymond Green from beginning the regular season with the Golden State Warriors. Whenever he's healthy enough to debut in 2023-24, though, either sending Chris Paul to the bench or moving another entrenched starter out of the early-season opening five, Green won't be too concerned about lineup questions facing the Warriors.

Why? First off, Green is not the Dubs' coach. The difficult decision of bringing Paul off the bench for the first time in his NBA career or deviating from basketball's best starting five is up to Steve Kerr.

“We did have the best starting lineup in the league, so you can't ignore that. And yet you can't ignore Chris Paul is Chris Paul. Like, he is very much so Chris Paul,” Green said at Media Day of Golden State's uncertain starting five. “You do you have to take all of that into account, and then once you've taken all of that into account, I am a basketball player and not a coach, so it's not my job to figure it out. It's not my role.”

Green can pass that baton all he wants, but there's no doubting both he and Stephen Curry will ultimately have a say in how Golden State's full-time starting lineup ultimately shakes out. Kerr has regularly sought their opinions on related matters in the past. It won't be any different during the tenth season of the Warriors' fading dynasty.

The real reason Green isn't worried about Paul—who also downplayed its importance on Monday, by the way—starting or coming off the bench is because this season's Dubs are all working toward the common goal of winning a championship. Details like who's starting will be figured out as they collectively strive for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

“What I can feel with this team already is that everyone who's walking through that door has a dedication to winning,” Green said. “And because of that, everything else that'll happen along the way is just a part of the journey, you figure those things out. But in figuring those things out, you do what's best to reach the end goal. I have no worries about a starting lineup, about a finishing lineup, about a second unit. I don't have any worries about that, because those are all things that's just a part of the journey of what we wanna ultimately do.”

Expect Paul to start in Green's place until the latter is healthy enough to debut and play his regular allotment of minutes. Beyond that, Golden State's optimal lineup construction seems obvious, Paul leading reserve units as a de facto “sixth starter” while keeping the best opening lineup in basketball intact.

Either way, potential friction regarding Paul's role seems unlikely to surface—at least as long as the Warriors continue rowing in the same direction.