Why Draymond Green's Biggest Weakness Is Getting Worse

If it feels like Draymond Green is turning the ball over more than ever, it's because he is.

The Golden State Warriors power forward is averaging a career-high 4.1 turnovers per 36 minutes. That's tied for the third-highest turnover rate in the NBA.

Green has always struggled with turnovers, but never this much.

Why? I have the answers below.

The Warriors Are Lacking Play Finishers

Say what you will about the end of Klay Thompson's Warriors tenure, but he was a hub for simple, turnover-averse offense. If you got Thompson the ball with any space whatsoever, it was going up.

For years, fans questioned Thompson's shot selection, and maybe they had a point at times. But he also took a lot of pressure off other Warriors by being an offensive hub.

In the year-and-a-half since his exit, the Warriors have not replaced him.

They did replace Andrew Wiggins with Jimmy Butler, which hasn't been as big of a help for Green's turnover issues as you might think.

Sure, Butler is a better playmaker than Wiggins. But Butler is not a floor-spacer, so Green is often forcing passes to Butler inside that are getting stolen.

Lastly, the Warriors have not replaced Jordan Poole, who was a play-finishing threat as a shooter and a driver.

Back in 2022-23, Golden State had four significant threats to drive to the basket and finish: Curry, Poole, Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga.

Then in 2023-24, they got rid of Poole and were down to just Curry, Wiggins and Kuminga.

Last year, they had Wiggins, Curry and Kuminga before the Butler trade and Butler, Curry and Kuminga after.

This year they still just have Curry, Butler and Kuminga, except Kuminga isn't even playing right now.

In any event, the offense has almost no threat of rim pressure, which is putting more pressure on Green to make things happen, and he's turning it over as a result.

Defenses Are Taking Advantage of Green's Hesitance to Play-Finish

Green is taking a career-low 3.8 two-pointers per game. Defenses are not having to honor his ability to score, and instead they are jumping passing lanes to get steals.

Just two seasons ago, Green was at 5.9 two-pointers per game. That's a healthier number he should strive for.

Of course, it's not as simple as asking him to shoot more. He's never been a great play finisher. He's just 6'6", and he's not athletic enough to finish consistently in heavy traffic.

But he needs to realize that his role must evolve.

He can't afford to be an offensive spectator on a team with fewer offensive threats than the Warriors have had in his career. He's taking more threes, which is good, but there are other ways he can be more aggressive.

The obvious one is looking to score instead of pass on his drives or when rolling to the basket off Curry pocket passes. But his offensive rebounding rate is at a five-year low. His free-throw rate is a career low.

Especially when he's playing with Curry and Butler, Green's playmaking is not as valuable as it otherwise would be. He needs to look to score more instead of trying dangerous passes that often result in turnovers.

He Needs to Lock In

I know this is as reductive as it gets, but after charting his eight turnovers from Sunday's game, it's the best I could do.

Sure, it's challenging playing for a team with so few play finishers, and it's also not easy being a 6'6" player asked to defend bigger players for 30-plus minutes per game and then have to score inside on the other end. The effect of both of those issues is a turnover-happy environment.

But lots of his turnovers are simply a lack of focus.

His first turnover is hard to describe. He received a pass at the top of arc and seemingly never controlled it and then I guess tried to bat the ball to Curry in what was supposed to a dribble-handoff action. His bat was off by several feet, leading to an easy Portland steal.

His second came right after he got a steal. He tried to throw it ahead to Curry, but Curry wasn't looking. We'll put this one more on Curry.

His third was an attempt to get the ball to Moses Moody, who was open after setting a pindown screen for Curry. But the pass was so low that Moody couldn't catch it.

His fourth was a one-handed telegraphed pass in transition that anyone would steal.

On his fifth, Quinten Post was open in the dunker's spot, and had Post come to the ball, Shaedon Sharpe wouldn't have been able to steal it from behind. However, the interesting thing about this play was that Donovan Clingan stunted toward Green before recovering to Post, which is an example of the defense having no fear that Green would take it himself. So even if Post caught it, Clingan would've been all over him, and thus Green should have just gone up with it himself.

On his sixth, the Warriors wanted to set up the split-action play with Curry, but Green instead dribbled to the baseline, putting himself in no man's land. He then tried to pass it to Post on the wing, but Post cut right as Green threw the pass.

On the seventh, Green tried to get a rip-through foul 35 feet from the basket. He didn't get the call, leading to the easiest steal of the game.

On the eighth, Green got the pocket pass from Curry and was wide open. Instead of trying to score himself, he attempted a lob to Butler, and Sharpe read it easily for his fourth steal of the game.

In summary, the first, fourth and seventh are inexcusably bad, just totaling losing focus in the moment. The fifth and eighth are related to not looking to score. The third and sixth are hard to categorize. The second was not his fault.

For the first, fourth and seventh, all he has to do is hold the ball instead of try something dangerous. If he avoids those three turnovers, the Warriors probably win the game.