NBA free agency doesn’t begin until July 6th, but Draymond Green clearly has that date circled on his calendar.
That’s when Green could become an unrestricted free agent, and complex business decisions will need to be made by the Golden State Warriors.
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“If you don’t get to know the business, then you can be blindsided and be, like, ‘Oh man, everything I’ve done, I’d thought I’d be there forever,” Green said this week in an interview with Bleacher Report‘s Taylor Rooks.
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“I would love to be [with the Warriors forever]. [But] I understand the luxury tax. I understand you’ve got these young guys and contracts up, and they have to be paid. I understand all of those things. And so, just for me, that’s what I mean by the writing’s on the wall.”
At the end of this season, Green will likely decline his $27.6 million player option to become an unrestricted free agent. At which point the Warriors will be tasked with fitting Green onto a roster that will already cost $354 million in 2022 after luxury tax penalties.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob has expressed reluctance to continue this wild spending on the teams’ roster. Next year, the Warriors have $214 million in committed salaries (including Green) before taxes, $97.65 million higher than the salary cap.
“(That kind of payroll is) not possible without losing quite a bit of money at the bottom line, let’s put it that way,” Lacob said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “I did say that (a $400 million payroll is not possible), and it is, from a business perspective, an almost insane thing to even consider. But I think we’re gonna have to wait and see because the truth is winning matters.”
After the 2023-24 season, the Warriors will also have to settle contracts for Klay Thompson and James Wiseman with Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga soon to follow.
The Warriors’ Big 3 of Steph Curry, Thompson, and Green has an unbelievable record of 287-66 in 2014, per StatMuse. They also spearheaded a record-setting 73-9 season in 2016 and four NBA titles.
This article was originally published by the New York Post and reproduced with permission
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