Draymond Green was public enemy No. 1 in Sacramento last month. Come next year could he be lighting the beam?
That’s the question KNBR’s Greg Papa posed to The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson on Monday, wondering if Green — who has a $27 million player option this offseason — could be enticed to sign with Sacramento on a lucrative deal.
Thompson believes he would be the ideal fit to add to the young Kings.
“I was saying this to Kings media when we were down there,” Thompson said. “They hated it, they were so mad.
“He’d be so perfect. They’ve got the guards, they’ve got the shooters, they’ve got all these players, and one of the issues Sabonis has is once you took away the one thing, the little dribble handoff, he didn’t have another option. Draymond been doing this so long, you take away the dribble handoff and he’ll find another way to get his guys involved.”
“He’d be perfect for them, just perfect, in many ways. Especially like how do you win, how do you get through a tough series. Obviously he’s older, but they’re young. They could use some age. It makes a lot of sense.”
The Kings are expected to have around $21 million in cap space next offseason if Harrison Barnes leaves in free agency. Of course they could always go over that and into the tax to sign Green if they wanted to. For Green to even consider leaving Stephen Curry, Thompson believes the offer would have to be substantial.
“Now I don’t know if they pay the money,” Thompson said. “Here’s the bigger thing: If the Warriors are on the table, and he can stay with Steph, it’s going to be hard to swap Steph out for De’Aaron Fox if you’re Draymond. The money would have to be crazy, cause Steph is going to keep him here, he’s going to stay with Steph.
“If he’s got both on the table he’s choosing the Warriors all the time. If the Warriors are saying we only got $20 [million] for you and Sacramento’s offering the max, he might not have a choice. But I don’t think he’d prefer Sacramento over the Warriors.”
Keep in mind, Green just said he wants to be a Warrior for life, so Golden State would have to low-ball him significantly while the Kings would have to simultaneously throw money at him for this to be a possibility. Those both happening — especially in light of rumors that Jordan Poole will be traded — is probably unlikely.
Still, Draymond could be exactly what they need.
“That’s exactly what they need to get to the next level,” Thompson concluded.
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