Draymond Green has decided to decline his $27.5 million player option for next season in order to become a free agent. Though he could still return to the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers could be a possibility for him as well.
Bookies.com listed the odds for Green’s next team. While they favor Green to return to the Warriors at +150, they have the Lakers second at +250. The Detroit Pistons are listed third at +500.
The Pistons have not had a winning season since 2015-2016 but are Green’s hometown team, so he would likely only go there if they were offering him big money.
With the Warriors, Green would be able to remain with the team that drafted him in 2012 and with whom he has won four championships.
But the Lakers would be an interesting team.
Green has become good friends with Lakers star LeBron James. They share an agent in Rich Paul, and the two went on vacation together this offseason. Their respective teams met in the Western Conference semifinals in May with the Lakers prevailing.
On the surface, it wouldn’t appear that the Lakers have the money to offer Green a significant contract. They could create the cap space necessary by renouncing the rights to their free agents while leaving themselves the ability to match an offer for Austin Reaves. Not keeping Mo Bamba and Malik Beasley would leave them thin though, so the likelihood of such a move does not seem that high, though it is possible.
Still, the threat of the Lakers potentially signing Green could be enough to make the Warriors offer a significant deal to the 33-year-old.
