Draymond Green will reach restricted free agency this summer, which, truthfully, is the single-most pointless piece of offseason information.
Why?
Because Green is staying with the Golden State Warriors.
Incumbent teams typically hold on to their higher-profile restricted free agents. They have the right to match any offer those players receive and only bid farewell when the price and/or contract structure is deemed too egregious. Think Chandler Parsons and the Houston Rockets last summer.
Over the course of this past season, a breakout campaign for Green, cunning deviants attempted to portray Green’s restricted free agency in a similar light. He has entered max contract territory, and the Warriors, staring down the barrel of a huge luxury-tax bill, might balk at paying him.
One NBA championship later, it’s beyond foolish to believe the Warriors would breakup this core when it’s set to contend for years to come. David Lee will be gone next season, this we know. But not Green.
The only way he leaves is if he himself tries to force his way out, kind of like Eric Gordon did to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012, only Green would have to hope he was successful.
Except that’s not going to happen either.
As Green’s facial expression on the subject immediately after winning the championship shows:
This was Draymond's face when @matt_winer pointed out that this isn't a bad way to go into free agency pic.twitter.com/n1kRAXjtfF
— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) June 17, 2015
Also, there’s what he told KNBR’s Gary Radnich and Larry Krueger, via the Bay Area News Group’s Diamond Leung (h/t CBS Sports):
Draymond Green to KNBR: "I don't want to pretend I'm going anywhere."
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) June 17, 2015
So yeah, that’s settled.
It was really settled long ago, even before the Warriors won a title. Green is too important to their defensive and offensive schemes to let go, and Green himself would be daft to spurn the team on which he knows he can be successful. Though his skill set should translate nicely into any system that values floor spacing, small lineups and a vast array of defensive combinations, he knows what he can do with the Warriors, and the Warriors know what they’re going to get from him.
Green and the Warriors, then, are a perfect match.
The Larry O’Brien Trophy just makes it easier for him to say so weeks before he can actually say so.
