The Warriors have extended Draymond Green’s contract through the 2023-24 season, but coming off a rough year, what can the Dubs expect from their former Defensive Player of the Year?
Draymond Green has been an instrumental piece in the Golden State Warriors run of five-straight Finals appearances.
His leadership, defensive prowess, and ability to distribute has made him the ultimate “glue” guy to mix in with the rest of the super stars.
However, the 2018-19 season was very much so a rollercoaster year for Green.
In the regular season Green hit five-year lows in points, rebounds, and blocks, while his already inconsistent three-point shot completely abandoned him.
He admittedly had put on weight and even on the defensive end, which is supposed to be his bread and butter, he at times looked to be far from the best defensive player in the league that he was two years prior.
But the playoffs were a whole different story. Draymond lost the excess weight and turned it around when it mattered. He possibly played his best basketball ever during the Western Conference Finals against Portland, averaging 16.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 2.3 steals, and 2.8 blocks all on 54% shooting.
For those of you who forgot:
So now that the Warriors have given Draymond another $100 million, which version of Green are they going to get?
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Was last year an anomaly, or is Draymond past his prime?
If Draymond can play at or near the level of DPOY Draymond, this deal will become an absolute steal for the Warriors.
Playing at that level, he surely could have played out the final year on his contract with the Warriors and gotten paid more money on the open market, especially with the insane amounts of money being thrown around at NBA free agents these days.
However, if Draymond’s 2018-19 was not an anomaly and in fact the start of a decline, that $20 million plus per year might not look so good when Green is 33 years old.
If he underperforms, it would put serious financial strains on the Warriors’ ability to remain competitive and improve their roster. To be fair, compared to Curry’s deal, Green, although he did receive a max, will be making far less.
Green’s extension pays him $22.2M, $24M, $25.8M and $27.6M over the course of the deal. The Warriors will have $129M and $138M committed to their four max players — Curry, Thompson, Green and Russell — in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, respectively.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2019
Draymond is 29 years old and will turn 30 during the upcoming season. He hasn’t shown many signs of aging yet, but longevity is a rare quality in players that rely on strength and physicality over finesse.
I myself am as big of a Draymond fan as anyone. I own the man’s jersey!
However, ‘Which Draymond are we getting?’ is a very fair question to ask and surely something that the Dubs front office thought long and hard about before inking this deal.