We know there is no loyalty when it comes to the business of the NBA.
That point was made clear last season, when Luka Doncic was dealt from the Mavericks to the Lakers in perhaps the most shocking NBA trade of all time.
If He could be moved, everyone could be moved.
Still, there’s something troubling about Draymond Green being on the trading block for a potential GIannis Antetokounmpo deal.
According to The Stein LineJimmy Butler’s contract is unlikely to be involved in a trade for the Milwaukee Bucks superstar after Butler suffered an ACL tear earlier this month. That means Green’s contract would need to be included to match salaries in a deal, along with Jonathan Kuminga, four first-round selections (2026, 2028, 2030, 2032) and one first-round swap (2031).
However, a transaction of that size is not as simple as it sounds. Initial.
Green is central to Golden State’s success. Warriors coach Steve Kerr has long called him the “heart and soul” of the team. The defensive wizard would retire alongside Steph Curry, who is widely considered the greatest shooter of all time.
We already saw one member of the Warriors’ Big Three leave San Francisco when Klay Thompson opted to join Dallas in free agency in July 2024 after 13 seasons with the team amid frustrations over contract negotiations and his diminished role.
But it was are choice.
Green is as much the Warriors as Curry is the Warriors.
But the Warriors are going to do whatever it takes to acquire Antetokounmpo short of trading Curry. As they should. But if Green is jettisoned in any part of that deal, it would show the ugly underbelly of the company.
Green transformed himself from the 35th overall pick in the 2012 draft by Golden State into one of the best defenders in NBA history. No longer overlooked, he helped the Warriors become a dynasty, winning four championships in eight years from 2015 to 2022.
Green handles things like a good soldier, biting his lower lip and apparently accepting his fate, whatever that may be.
“I’ve been here 14 years,” Green told reporters Friday. “I have no reason to sit down and worry about leaving. But if I get traded, that’s part of the business. So it is what it is. I didn’t lose any sleep, though. I slept great last night.”
The point is, without Green, would the Warriors even be a championship team if they acquired Antetokounmpo?
Green has selflessly accepted the role of playmaker on offense for the Warriors, while pouring his energy on the less glamorous side of the court as a tenacious defender. At 35, he may have taken a step slower, but he can compensate with his basketball IQ, which is second to none.
Losing Green would be a major hit for the Warriors, both on the court and in terms of the team’s storybook journey from irrelevance to epic success. Green was central. And he wanted to stay there until retirement.
He deserved that — until the Bucks decided Antetokounmpo was movable.
All loyalty disappears when a generational player becomes available. Antetokounmpo would revive Curry’s career and make the Warriors a contender for years to come.
But that doesn’t mean that if the trade continues – and Groen is the victim – there wouldn’t be anything heartbreaking about it.
Green helped put the Warriors on the map.
And now, in the blink of an eye, his tenure with the team went from certainty to uncertainty.
“Right now, I know as much as you know,” Green said on his podcast The Draymond Green Show on Saturday. “I read what you read. I don’t know. But I know it’s very stressful. So we’ll see.”
#Loyalty #window #Giannis #Antetokounmpo #enters #picture