In recent times, Draymond Green has surprisingly been linked with different teams around the NBA. The Golden State Warriors star is crucial for his squad, but that doesn’t mean other franchises aren’t interested in his services.
Green is really good at his job, although he’s not the best scorer. He’s a great facilitator and playmaker, as well as a terrific defensive force. Those skills have made him the great player he is right now and one of the most beloved players on the Dubs roster.
Then again, some squads around the league would love to have a player like Draymond on their roster, including the Portland Trail Blazers. Chauncey Billups’ team is struggling to get things going right now. Damian Lillard is going through a slump that has raised many eyebrows around the league.
Lillard himself is a big admirer of Draymond, and according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, he’s very interested in the idea of getting Green to Portland. Talking with Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the reporter revealed the point guard is very high on the big man.
Scotto: What are you seeing from Draymond now? He was a guy whose name would get brought up in trade talks sporadically here and there.
Slater: The Blazers would love to have him. (Damian) Lillard has been obsessed with getting him there for a while.
Late last season, they went 15-5 down the stretch, and they went small without Wiseman, which fits Draymond. His foot healed, his conditioning was back, the stakes were back. Green kind of needs high stakes basketball to care. He always kind of stinks when his team stinks because he just stops caring.
He went into the summer and stayed in shape because he was in the Olympics. If you talk to him or Steve Kerr, who was a coach, they thought it was so good for him because he’s usually spending the summer getting out of shape. This summer, he was in shape. It’s shown early this season. He’s still his same self defensively. To this very early point, he’s probably the best defensive player in the league because they have worse defensive personnel, but they’re still sixth in the league in defense right now.
Draymond still has two years left on his current contract with the Warriors, so the only way the Blazers would get him is via trade. Yet, they would need to send a big package to the Bay just to gain interest from the Warriors.
Even if Lillard likes him a lot, it doesn’t look like Draymond will leave the Warriors soon. In a couple of seasons, that could be a possibility. Still, it’s hard to see Green playing with another uniform in the association.
