Should the Warriors give Draymond Green a max deal?

The Athletic reported Thursday that Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green wants and feels deserving of a four-year, max contract extension.

“All indications, though, are that the Warriors have no plans to offer Green a maximum extension, and there isn’t any current traction on any type of extension,” Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson wrote.

Green, 32, is entering the third season of a four-year, $100 million contract, which includes a player option for the 2023-24 season. He has spent his entire 10-year NBA career with Golden State alongside Stephen Curry, who signed a $215 million extension last offseason, and Klay Thompson, who’s three seasons into a five-year, $190 million deal.

Nick Wright wonders what other NBA team would be willing to pay Green a max contract.

“He’s intensely valuable to them, but if Draymond Green were a free agent right now, who is lining up to pay him $30 million?” Wright questioned. “Who is the team that has a coach in place that can deal with his call it ‘outbursts’ and ‘personality’ that I actually think helps the Warriors, but you need Steve Kerr and that relationship in place? And if we’re being honest, Wildes, who else has an offensive player like Steph Curry, who has such immense gravity on the court, that you can offset playing four-on-five? Draymond would ruin the spacing for maybe any other team in basketball except for one with Steph and Klay.”

“With two years left on a deal for a diminishing player who’s 32 years old, I just see no reason whatsoever to pay him, none,” Wright later added.

Draymond Green is eyeing a max extension from Golden State | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Chris Broussard and Nick Wright lay out why the Golden State Warriors would be smart to put off a Draymond Green extension.

Chris Broussard feels that Golden State holding off on a Green extension would fall in line with their contractual tendencies. 

“What the Warriors typically do is wait until the guy has one year left on his deal,” Broussard said. “Then they extend him. They did that with Steph Curry, so if they can do that with Steph Curry, it’s easy to say to Draymond ‘look, Dray, you got two years left. We don’t even talk about this stuff until the last year of your deal. We did it with Steph. We did it with Klay. We can do it with you.” 

Green averaged 7.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, seven assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 52.5/29.6/65.9 last season. For his career, Green is averaging 8.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.4 steals and one block per game while shooting 44.1/31.5/71.2.

According to Spotrac, Golden State has the highest payroll in the NBA for the 2022-23 season at roughly $199 million. The Warriors re-signed big man Kevon Looney on a three-year, $25.5 million deal, but they lost guard Gary Payton II to the Portland Trail Blazers in free agency. Meanwhile, wings Andrew Wiggins (unrestricted) and Jordan Poole (restricted) are free agents after the 2022-23 season.

Green and the Warriors have won four of the last eight NBA championships. This past season, they defeated the Boston Celtics in six games to win the NBA Finals.