Draymond Green is 'expected' to walk away from his long-term team the Golden State Warriors after this season when he is set to become a free agent.
The 32-year-old star has an option to prolong his deal for a further year, but it now looks like that he'll decline this option in an attempt to get a long-term deal - which could be away from the Warriors. Green has spent his entire career in northern California with Golden State, playing a key role in their four championships and six NBA finals in the last eight years.
Green was selected in the second-round of the 2012 NBA Draft, and was used in a limited role in his first two seasons before quickly becoming a pivotal player in his third-year - helping the Warriors win their first championship.
But with the Warriors now having a few younger players on their roster, who they'd like to keep around, the salary cap may force their hand into moving on from either Green, or fellow long-time Warrior Klay Thompson.
The recent video that emerged may have made the Warriors choice on this a little easier, when Green was caught on camera punching one of the aforementioned young players who they'd like to keep around in Jordan Poole. In the video, Green punches Poole and drops him to the floor after an argument in a practice session - he has since apologised for the incident.
And with Green likely to become a free agent, he'd be a wanted man as he remains one of the better defensive players in the NBA.
ESPN First Take host and insider Stephen A. Smith has stated that he thinks Green wants to be a Laker, playing alongside former rival and now seemingly close friend LeBron James.
Smith said: "I can tell you right now, [Andrew] Wiggins and Poole are a priority. I can tell you right now that Draymond Green is expecting this to be his last year in Golden State. Now, he wanna be a Laker. He ain’t gonna tell anybody that, but don’t think I don’t know. He’d prefer to be a Laker if he gotta leave Golden State.
"But he looking for a payday. He gonna get $25 million this year. He got a player option for $24 million next year. The Warriors are probably hoping he don’t opt in because they’d have to pay him on top of the cats that they know that they gotta pay in Poole and Wiggins."
