Golden State Warriors Mailbag: Draymond Green, Grizzlies, Bench

Apr 7, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) celebrates after a basket against the New Orleans Pelicans during a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Warriors 103-100. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

I decided to pair these two questions together, because they’re related and both need to be addressed when discussing Green’s possible contract extension.

First of all, I can’t foresee any possible scenario in which the Warriors don’t re-sign Green or don’t match any offer that another team makes for him, since he will be a restricted free agent. The Warriors’ front office has stated publicly that Green was “born to be a Warrior” and is the type of player that they’d want to be a Warrior for life. The front office, coaching staff, and his teammates truly understand Green’s value and want him to stay on this Warriors team for a long time.

Also, now that Green has become a somewhat more reliable three-point shooter, he fits perfectly into the Warriors’ offense as a stretch four. His defense is also elite, and the Warriors could sign him to a contract extension for his defense, toughness, and high basketball IQ alone.

More from Golden State Warriors

• Warriors unlikely to draft Anthony Edwards due to character concerns
• Warriors: September minicamp mimics NBA bubble
• Warriors: Eric Paschall named to NBA All-Rookie first team
• Warriors reportedly eyeing a wing in the 2020 NBA Draft
• Warriors: Is the team destined to trade its No. 2 overall draft pick?

The next question is the tricky one. Although the Warriors will do whatever they can to re-sign Green, it’ll require some roster adjustments because of salary cap restrictions. The most likely scenarios, in order to create the cap space needed to re-sign Green, would be to trade David Lee or Andre Iguodala.

Iguodala is the more valuable player, fits better into the Warriors’ system, and is more important to the Warriors’ future success, so because of that, he should not be traded. However, it will be difficult to trade Lee, seeing as how his trade value plummeted this season due to fewer minutes, a smaller role, and poor statistics. In addition, Lee’s contract is so bloated, in general and in comparison to his drop-off in production, that it will make him even harder to trade.

The Warriors won’t want to necessarily shed cap space by cutting or trading other players, because they won’t want to compromise their depth.

The Warriors’ front office is crafty and smart. They should find a way to trade Lee or find some other type of creative solution so that they can re-sign Green, because that is a priority this offseason.

Next: Warriors vs. Grizzlies in Second Round?