After Draymond Green declined a $27.5 million option this offseason, the rumor mill began turning. Could Green, who's played his entire 11-year career with the Warriors, actually head to a new team? Could you imagine him in a different jersey?
As it turns out, those rumors were merely smoke. The Warriors and Green agreed to a new deal worth $100 million over four years. It will pay Green less average annual money ($25 million) than the option he turned down, but it gives him financial security in what will likely be his last major payday.
Green's contract now matches up on the same timeline as Steph Curry's, giving the Warriors at least a few more years to try and win another championship. Green, Curry, and Klay Thompson have won four titles together since 2015. They reached the Western Conference Semifinals this year, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
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This past season was a tumultuous one for Green. During an early October team practice, Green punched then-teammate Jordan Poole in the face. The team handled it fairly poorly, and there was tension throughout the year as the Warriors struggled to find the consistent play that earned them another championship during the 2021-22 season. Instead, the Warriors finished in sixth place in the Western Conference.
This summer, the Warriors traded Poole to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Chris Paul, who had just been traded to the Wizards from the Phoenix Suns. Paul and the Warriors have a long-standing rivalry from his days with the Houston Rockets, and it's going to be fascinating seeing two hard-headed personalities colliding in Green and Paul. Could we have even more drama unfold next season?
For now, Green is just happy to stay in the 0nly home he's ever known in the NBA. And by the time this contract is up, he'll have made more than a quarter of a billion dollars in career earnings. Not bad for any player, let alone a second-rounder.
