By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
OAKLAND — Draymond Green knows that he is a restricted free agent at the end of the season, and that he will have a few suitors, but the Golden State Warriors can match any offer sheet Green gets.
According to Yahoo! Sports/FOX Sports 1 NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski:
In a looming restricted free agency this summer, Golden State’s Draymond Green has a significant interest with pursuing an offer sheet with his hometown Detroit Pistons, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Green has loved playing with the Warriors and winning, and naturally Golden State is determined to find a way to retain him. Still, the Warriors’ salary structure almost dictates that Green has to go onto the market and get an offer sheet for them to match in July.
If the offer is too rich to match, the chance for Green to return to his beloved home state – where he grew up in Saginaw and played at Michigan State in East Lansing – has long intrigued him, sources said. Green still spends most of his time away from the NBA in Michigan.
Golden State knows that Green has been vital in the team’s NBA-best 42-9 record, averaging career-highs in points (11.1 ppg), rebounds (8.3 rpg), assists (3.6 apg), minutes (32 mpg), field goal percentage (43 percent), and three-point percentage (33 percent). There’s no way that the Warriors are going to let Green and his “do whatever the team needs me to do” attitude just walk out the door.
Green is a candidate for the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award this year.
Many Warriors’ fans are pondering what will it cost to keep Green around but if you ask Green, he’ll tell you he’s not thinking about it.
“I know I am a free agent,” said Green via Sporting News. “Everyone knows it. But I can honestly say I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it.”
And why should he really think about it with Golden State in the midst of arguably the greatest season in team history. There’s no question that Green will get a hefty pay raise after completing his rookie his first NBA contract—three years, $2.5 million.
So how much is Golden State willing to pony up to keep the beloved Green?
According to CSN Bay Area Warriors’ Insider Monte Poole, if the Warriors do lockup Green long term to a deal, “worth at least $12 million but as much as $14 million wouldn’t represent a dive into the luxury tax. It represents the luxury tax dancing on the head of Warriors CEO Joe Lacob.”
In today’s NBA, you need to have quality players to win, and you need to pay those quality players when they have become important to the franchise’s long term success.
But will Lacob pay for Green’s breakout season and potential superstar for years to come?
Or will the Warriors fold if the asking price deems too rich for their blood?
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