Green to stay put at Warriors
SAN FRANCISCO: Three-time NBA champion Draymond Green has agreed to a four-year maximum contract extension with the Golden State Warriors, linking him to the club until mid-2024, ESPN reported on Saturday.
The 29-year-old power forward, an emotional leader as well as a versatile playmaker, was set to become a free agent next July but will stay with the Warriors, his agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN.
Green’s remaining contract now goes for five years and pays US$118 million.
Green provides inside power and rebounding that helps provide room for three-point sharpshooters Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to maximise their outside shooting skills.
After helping the Warriors win the 2015 NBA crown, he combined with All-Star centre Kevin Durant on a formidable Warriors’ dynasty line-up that brought titles in 2017 and 2018 before Durant was hurt in the 2019 play-offs and Golden State lost the NBA Finals in June to the Toronto Raptors.
Green, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, has been on the NBA’s All-Defensive first or second team for five consecutive seasons.
Since his NBA debut in 2012, Green has a team-high 22 triple-doubles and the fifth-most in the NBA in that span.
Along with guard D’Angelo Russell plus Curry and Thompson, Green gives the Warriors four NBA All-Stars under contract as they move into a new $1 billion arena in San Francisco next season.
Thompson, who suffered a major left knee injury in the NBA Finals, signed a five-year maximum deal worth $190 million in July.
Russell was obtained in a trade deal that helped Durant wind up in Brooklyn and signed to a four-year contract worth $117 million.
Green has career averages of 9.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocked shots a game in the regular season. In his 123 career play-off appearances, those figures all rise to 12.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks a game.
A Forbes report said had Green signed a five-year max deal with Golden State next summer (with standard 8% annual raises), he would have earned more than $200 million.