Warriors declined a Draymond Green sign-and-trade in 2023

The summer of 2023 was a pivotal one for the Golden State Warriors. After a volatile season started with Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during a preseason practice, the team’s title defense ended with a second-round playoff loss. Poole and Wiggins got contract extensions in the wake of the championship, while Green did not, despite holding a player option for 2023-24. The Warriors ended up severing one branch of their two timelines, shipping Poole and 2022 draft picks Ryan Rollins and Patrick Baldwin, Jr. out of town and adding Chris Paul.

Eventually, the team also gave Green a four-year contract worth $100M, but not without some drama in the negotiations. According to Green, he was ready to join Golden State’s rivals and try his hand and whooping that trick in Memphis before the Dubs upped their offer.

Was it a negotiating ploy? Green claims he wasn’t bluffing, and that the Grizzlies had offered $10M more than the Warriors’ original offer. He did need to get his old team to participate in a sign-and-trade to get that extra money, and that’s when the Warriors raised their offer, while also reportedly “moving the goalposts” in trade talks with the Grizzlies, according to Green.

Advertisement

It’s not clear what the Grizzlies would have done to make the money work in such a deal, or when the sign-and-trade talks happened. Memphis eventually traded for Marcus Smart and jettisoned Green’s arch-enemy Dillon Brooks and Green came back to the Warriors for almost the exact same money and years as his previous deal.

The fit in Memphis would have made a lot of sense. Green may have antagonized the fans of Memphis over the years, but he could have complemented Jaren Jackson, Jr. well, essentially playing center defensively so Jackson could roam, block shots, and continue not to get any rebounds. Though Draymond has never been specifically suspended for grit or for grinding, he does have the lunch pail/bully ball/regular bullying attitude that the classic Zach Randolph-Mike Conley-Tony Allen-Marc Gasol Grizzlies teams embraced.

Green’s foray into free agency was similar to what happened with Andre Iguodala in the summer…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/warriors-declined-draymond-green-sign-231717591.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-09-14 23:17:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.