Lakers Alone Should Trade For Troubled All-Star, Front Office Insider Opines
Four-time All-Star, eight-time All-Defensive Team selection, and former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green is having issues with the Golden State Warriors.
While nothing has been publicized that necessarily suggests that he wants to be traded, he had his punching incident of Jordan Poole last fall, which, combined with his two recent suspensions have led to him being in a weird spot with the team.
They're without him indefinitely, and as he gets older, his role on an aging roster that has discovered new emerging young talent in players like Jonathan Kuminga, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Brandin Podziemski, has been brought into question.
It was in response to all of this that an NBA executive recently spoke on the matter, per Heavy Sports' Sean Deveney.
“If you were to get him out of Golden State, there’s really only one team that could possibly trade for him,” the executive said. “That’s the Lakers. No one else could really handle what he’s bringing. LeBron James could. Draymond has been kissing up to LeBron for a couple of years now.
“It’s not just the on-court stuff and the fights and all of that. But the contract. The approach — there are not a lot of teams he would want to play for. All of that. Our team, our owner, we could not handle a Draymond Green trade. Most people would say that same thing. The Lakers could handle it, though. I doubt they want to. But they could.”
Green's publicized relationship with LeBron James is definitely the driver in coming to this conclusion, as there isn't really another reason to make sense of this move. Green doesn't fit at all with LA's wants or needs, nor has the team expressed interest in bringing him in.
Hypothetically, if there were to be any sort of movement towards a deal involving him, LA would need to match salaries, leading D'Angelo Russell (who previously played in Golden State and was dealt after half a season there) and Rui Hachimura to be put on the block to match Green's contract.
That's an overpay considering Green can't shoot at all, leading to the next issue which is fit. Green is a terrible shooter and offers little as an off-ball player outside of his screening, which we know given the simplicity of Darvin Ham's offense, won't be utilized.
Simply put, this is a lot of random buzz with little connectivity, so don't expect a trade of any kind to be made involving him.
