Brian Windhorst put the Draymond Green angle on the record Wednesday, while discussing the Warriors’ pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Windhorst said Green is already part of the Warriors’ proposal to the Bucks, and he framed the Lakers as a potential landing spot only if Green is moved as a byproduct of a Giannis blockbuster.
“He is in the offer to the Bucks that is out on the table,” Windhorst said, before adding that if Green is traded in that scenario, “his plan would not be to remain” with the Bucks.
“If he were traded, his plan would not be to remain in Milwaukee. He would want to be moved on. A team that would be possible if he were traded. I can’t emphasize the number of ‘ifs’ I’ve said enough before I say this, but the Los Angeles Lakers would be a team he would have interest in, and they would have interest in him.”
The reason Green is even in this conversation is the mechanics of a Giannis deal and the Warriors’ willingness to go far beyond normal deadline business. ESPN’s Anthony Slater reported that the Warriors have contacted the Bucks, expressed firm interest in Antetokounmpo, and are willing to put a substantial offer on the table even with the calf strain and unclear timetable.
Green, for his part, has been addressing the noise head-on in the last few days, and the tone has shifted from shrugging it off to acknowledging the reality of it. In comments reported by the San Francisco Chronicle after the Warriors’ loss Tuesday night, Green said the trade talk “got real” when Steve Kerr asked him how his wife was handling it.
“That’s when it got real for me,” Green said. Green also kept the messaging blunt on the business side of it, saying:
“If there’s a point where I need to say goodbye, then I’ll say goodbye.”
In that same exchange, Green said:
“I ain’t losing no sleep, though. I slept great last night, longer than I’ve slept in a long time.”
And then he delivered what read like a genuine goodbye-if-it-happens reflection, with a quote that’s going to get replayed nonstop if a deal actually breaks:
“I don’t know that it ends at 13 and a half, but if it does, what a f—— run it’s been. So that’s just how I feel … I’m blessed. I’m lucky. I’m grateful. My family has not had to move anywhere since I started my family. That’s incredible. I don’t take that for granted.”
The Lakers tie-in isn’t just about cap math or a convenient third-team concept. Green has openly talked about the idea of sharing the floor with LeBron James, and that relationship angle has been circulating again this week because it fits the exact scenario Windhorst described.
In an interview with the New York Post, Green said:
“I’ve always wanted to [play with him]. I’m very comfortable in my situation with 30 [Stephen Curry] and what we’ve built and what we have. But I think him and Steph shared the want to take the court together, and they got the opportunity to do that in the Olympics in Paris. I’ve always wanted the opportunity. Just to experience it, to see how he thinks.”
With the deadline hours away, the reporting thread is straightforward: Windhorst says Green is in the Warriors’ Giannis offer and says there’s mutual interest with the Lakers if Green is moved in that kind of package.
And on deadline-day urgency, Bobby Marks has been discussing the pace of the market in terms of pressure from the superstar side, saying there’s “a sense of urgency in getting something done” from Giannis and that “we’re going to know if there’s a Giannis deal in the next 8 hours,” he added.
