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Recently, after declining his player option, Draymond Green would sign a new deal with the Golden State Warriors for four years and $100 million. This will keep him on the team through the 2026-27 season and potentially could be the final long-term deal that Green receives in his NBA career.
With there being a fair amount of speculation about how the Warriors would go about this offseason, it has been made clear that the front office believed that Jordan Poole was the problem holding Golden State back. However, with Green bringing in a sizable and long-term contract, many have wondered if this was the right move for the Warriors to make.
Throughout the entirety of the Warriors’ dynasty, has been the piece that held everything together. Although he has begun to make a major step back on the offensive end and is a nonfactor as a scorer at this point in his career, he is still an elite passer, especially for his position.
On the defensive end, Green is one of the most aggressive defenders the league has to offer. Last season with Golden State, Green averaged 8.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 52.7% from the field and 30.5% from three.
While Green has taken a step back as he has continued to age, he is still an essential part of the Warriors roster. Without him, the ball movement on the offensive end would likely take a steep decline and Golden State’s defense would also take a big hit.
Despite Green being a key piece for the Warriors on both sides of the floor, it is hard to justify his level of play being worth the $25 million per year that his new contract gives him. There is a strong chance that Green will continue to regress as he ages. While he is a strong distributor on the offensive end, his inability to consistently hit a jump shot leads to teams refusing to guard him on the perimeter and focusing their efforts on Golden State’s elite shooters.
While the Warriors would still have been over the cap with or without Green, they now likely will be stuck with him until his current contract expires. They will be hard-pressed to find a team willing to trade for him with Green taking up this much cap space.
Although Green was an integral part of the Warriors’ dynasty run, those days are likely now behind us, and the Warriors could have found themselves in a better spot if they moved on from their aging stars and built a new core around Stephen Curry.
While the Warriors did the right thing in bringing Green back to the team, it is tough to say that they did not overpay him. Along with this, giving him a long-term deal greatly restricts their ability to add more talent to the team.
Heading into the 2023-24 season, the biggest change made to their roster was swapping Jordan Poole for Chris Paul. This likely will not be enough to move the needle for Golden State to be true title contenders. If they could have gotten Green to agree to a more team-friendly deal or a contract for fewer years, they would have been in a better spot to make another title run with Curry at the helm.
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