Draymond Green has been a vital part of all the success that the Golden State Warriors have enjoyed during this dynastic run that has seen them win 4 titles in the last 8 seasons. He has been the defensive anchor for the Warriors as well as their primary playmaker and is regarded as the heart and soul of the team.
Despite all of that, there were understandably some eyebrows raised when it came out that the 32-year-old Green wanted the max extension and it is now another headache for the Warriors’ top brass to deal with. The team already had plenty on their hands before this came out, as big extensions for Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins were on the horizon. Dan Patrick, for one, questioned if Green is worth the max, but Colin Cowherd believes he definitely is worth the big deal. On his podcast, Cowherd stressed Draymond’s importance to Golden State as he hyped up the Warriors’ forward.
“Well, he is asking for a max extension which is different than a max contract, but there are things that are important to note. His net rating during the playoffs was 7.5, better than Steph’s and Klay’s. That matters because that takes into account both your offensive prowess and your defensive ability. It should also be noted in the 45 regular season games that Draymond Green played, the Warriors’ defense was statistically the best since the 2004 Spurs. When he didn’t play, it was ranked 13th this year in the NBA.”
“He is a complete difference maker on the defensive side and a catalyst offensively. But here is something to remember, when we entered the NBA Finals, I was one of many broadcasters who said I thought the Celtics defense could be the best in the last decade. By the end of that series, the belief was by most, including me, the Warriors were better defensively. That was really two people, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green.”
“Steph loves Draymond, catalyst offensively, best playoff net rating, best defense in the league which he spearheads, I don’t know, feels like he’s worth a lot of money to me and wildly popular among fans.”
As Cowherd himself brings up at the start of the video, Draymond does work under him at The Volume, so there is some bias involved here, but he does bring up some good points.
Draymond’s impact on the team goes well beyond the raw numbers he puts up and while he struggled early on in the Finals, he ended the series well and helped them beat the Celtics in 6 games. It will be interesting to see how the team deals with this situation going forward, as they won’t be able to keep all of their big guns. Someone has to be let go, in what could end up being a franchise-altering move.
