The NBA world, particularly those who are less than enamored with Draymond Green, have long held this strange fascination with debating what type of player he'd be if not a member of the Golden State Warriors. As if his essential part in their dynastic run was somehow lessened by the fact that he maybe wouldn't have been as impactful away from Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, and the Golden State ecosystem.
It never really had any value beyond filling out a few debate-show schedules, but it might be relevant right now. Because Green has the option to enter unrestricted free agency next summer, so, yes, his theoretical fit elsewhere is finally worth weighing. Or, rather, that would be the case if this wasn't such a no-brainer: He'd get $27.7 million by picking up his option, per Spotrac, and he wouldn't find anywhere close to that kind of money in this cash-strapped market.
"I think he picks it up," ESPN's Anthony Slater said on the Warriors Stock Report. "... There's a lot of ways to maneuver and use that as leverage and try to see if the Warriors—as he did the last time he had a player option, it was a decline and an extend off of it. Sure, that's something that Rich Paul and Draymond would be interested in. I'm not sure the Warriors would be."
Green's future in Golden State feels uncertain, but his decision on his player option does not.
While Green has engineered his own once-in-a-lifetime career, the final chapters of it sure seem like they're going to be rough. He lacks an offensive identity (and therefore much on-court utility) without Stephen Curry, who has missed nearly a month with a knee injury and turns 38 in March.
Green's ability to enhance Curry has long been part an essential part of Golden State's winning formula, but even that has started to run out of steam. They're still good together, but not dominating-the-entire league great: plus-5.8 points per 100 possessions (88th percentile, per CleaningTheGlass.com).
Where that really hurts is Green's inability to contribute anything on the offensive end without Curry. When he plays and Curry doesn't, Golden State's net rating tumbles to minus-9.9 (first percentile). Overall, that leaves Green holding onto a wholly underwhelming minus-4.3 net differential on the season, per NBA.com.
His minus-2.8 offensive box plus/minus is his worst since his rookie season, per Basketball-Reference.com. If you just take into account his on-court contributions—i.e., you don't even ding him for his tendency to overheat at times—it just doesn't add up to anything close to a near $28 million player.
So, unless he wants to do the Dubs a solid, this decision is really no decision at all. If he approaches this from a business angle—and why wouldn't he, since this his is job?—he'll only see one option in front of him: take the money and stay. And immediately start hoping the Dubs don't then decide to see what they could drum up on the trade market by pairing his then-expiring salary with some of their premium trade chips.