Draymond Green is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract, a $27.59 million figure. It’s the first time in his career Green will hit the market.
It begs the question, at age 33, and after the punch debacle with Jordan Poole, will Green remain with the Warriors?
Adrian Wojnarowski addressed the situation on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt after Green announced he’d be opting out well before the deadline.
He offered an abundance of optimism that Green would return.
“Listen, these are two sides who very much want to get a deal done,” Wojnarowski said. “Draymond and Rich Paul, they’re not really posturing here, threatening that they’re gonna go somewhere else.”
He mentioned a host of other teams that could be viable options and have cap space to work with, but most fall into the category of a non-contending team with money or a contender that would need to work with the Warriors to get a deal done.
Wojnarowski doesn’t think Green goes elsewhere. It’s just a matter of the fine print.
“I think there’s certainly a desire on both sides to stay together,” Wojnarowski said. “They want each other. I think Draymond Green, the idea of continuing with Steph Curry and with Klay Thompson and certainly Steve Kerr, I think it means the world to him. It’s just a matter of negotiation. You know, is it a four-year deal? Is it a three-year deal? I don’t sense at all any real sense on either side that this could get sideways. It could happen — he becomes a free agent, Scott — but I think the sides are destined to reunite.”
Green has said recently that he wants to play 15 years in the NBA, a mark that a four-year deal would take him to. Stephen Curry, though, has three years remaining on his deal, which begs the question as to whether Warriors brass would want to extend anyone beyond Curry’s final year.