NBA Game Insider|Chasing dreams to recover free agency, next stop is the Lakers or Blazers?
On October 6, 2022, a scandal broke out with the Warriors. During team practice, Green and Poole got into a physical altercation. The two bumped into their chests and then started pushing each other, and eventually Green threw a punch at Poole, who fell to the ground in response. After this conflict, the Warriors offered Poole a four-year, $140 million contract, and Green, who could have renewed his contract early, suspended his contract after this conflict. Consequentially, Green's punch wiped out the Warriors' hopes of defending their title.
On June 20, 2023, Green refused to exercise his $27.5 million player option for next season and became a full free agent. At the same time, Warriors general manager Dunleavy said that we plan to keep Poole with the team for at least 4 years. The Warriors stayed in Poole, and then Green became a free agent, all of which are signs that the core contributor of the Warriors with 4 championships in 8 years is likely to leave.
As the No. 35 pick in 2012, Green's career was quite successful, and it can be said that he was the most honored rookie in the class of 2012, and the rest such as Thick Eyebrow, Bill, Lillard, Barnes, Zhuang Shen, Rivers and others were not as accomplished as Green.
Green's university is the famous basketball school Michigan State University, and his predecessors include the famous Michigan Five Tigers. Green's major accomplishments with the Warriors are: 4 championships, 4 All-Stars, 1 steal king, 3 defensive first teams, 2 defensive second teams, 1 defensive player of the year, and 2 season all-season teams. He also won gold medals with the U.S. men's basketball team at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Green has played 11 seasons for the Warriors, playing in 758 regular-season games, averaging 8.7 games, 7 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. Green averaged 31.5 minutes per game in the regular season last season, with 8.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks; in the playoffs, he averaged 30.6 minutes per game, contributing 9.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks.
On October 9, 2022, after the conflict, Lin publicly apologized at a press conference for hitting Poole. Green said: I never run away, I will face my mistakes. First of all, my behavior was wrong, and I have apologized to the team for that and I apologized to Poole. The video of this incident was exposed yesterday, which made me feel very embarrassed. And it embarrassed the whole team, Poole and his family.
Although Green's apology was sincere enough, Poole also said he forgave him. But after getting a big contract, Poole's performance is far from the 2021-22 season. I don't know if Poole floated after getting a big contract, or if he was still obsessed with Green's boxing. In short, Poole's performance fell short of expectations, his turnovers broke records at one point, his unreasonable shots skyrocketed, Curry asked for the ball he didn't give, and even grabbed free throws with Klay, and a few last-minute grabs. When the conflict first broke out, Warriors fans condemned Green, and when Poole performed catastrophically, Warriors fans agreed that Green played lightly.
Infighting has sharply reduced the Warriors' fighting ability, and despite a good home record in the regular season, the road record is on par with a fish-belly team like the Rockets, and they barely made the playoffs in 6th place, and after a difficult victory over the Kings, they lost to the Lakers and ended the season, and it is clear that such results are a little far from the goal of defending the title. One answer we never know is if Green hadn't punched Poole that punch, would Poole have continued last season '1-22 or even better? Will the Warriors defend their title?
As things stand, Green is more likely to leave the Warriors. He has three options: negotiate a new contract with the Warriors, explore the possibility of signing and trading or test the free agent market directly. Green agent Rich Paul said: "We will continue to negotiate with the Warriors to explore all possible options.
Commenting on Green's contract, Dunleavey said: "We are very keen to bring a key player back into the team. We very much hope that he will come back. We believe we can reach an agreement to continue working together and that the team owner can address these salary issues.
According to reports, the Warriors previously offered Green a 4-year contract of 80 million yuan, and the contract salary increased year by year, and the contract starting salary was 17 million yuan. But Green refused the contract and then asked for a four-year, $100 million contract. At this time, Green chose to jump out of the contract, which shows that the Warriors did not agree to a 4-year 100 million contract.
For Green, there are enough career accolades that his next goal must be a large pension contract, and the Warriors will struggle to meet his requirements. The Warriors next season Curry 51.92 million, Klay 43.22 million still face a contract extension, Wiggins 24.33 million, Poole 28.71 million, Looney 8.5 million, these five people's salary alone is already 157 million. The main thing is that the Warriors next season are likely to not win the championship, so is Lacob still willing to pay the super luxury tax?
Despite Green's offensive decline, the defense is still top-notch. Regarding Green's next home, I think it's possible for both the Lakers and the Blazers. Going to the Lakers is to go to the big brother James, and they are all players under the Fu Paul, which is more convenient to operate. Lillard has always had an eye for Green, and if Lillard stays with the Blazers, it may put pressure on management to sign Green.