The Golden State Warriors haven't started their 2016-17 Season campaign, yet it's already raining down trade speculations, the latest of which surrounding All-Star power forward Draymond Green.
Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN reported on Green being the emotional leaders of the Warriors the past two seasons, and at the same time, a potential detriment to the team's long-term success.
Green, known for his emotional style of encouraging teammates, has reportedly caused several locker room altercations in the past because of his aggressive attitude. One NBA executive also believes Green could prevent the Warriors from achieving long-term dominance.
Former Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers forward Marreese Speights even revealed that Green often got into a skirmish with fellow All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson, adding the forward's abrasiveness hurt team chemistry.
"Draymond f---ed up practice and s---," Marreese Speights said. "Draymond's a good guy, but I think at the end of the day, it hurt the whole chemistry of the year. Draymond and Klay got into it a lot."
Chemistry Issue:
Green played in four of the Warriors five preseason games so far, and it's evident that his usage rate has decreased compared to last season. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr admitted the power forward will have to deal with less touches this season to maximize Kevin Durant's scoring ability.
"It's going to be an adjustment for sure," Kerr told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Draymond may not touch the ball as often because obviously KD will be touching it quite a bit, more than Harrison [Barnes] did. The dynamics change." While Green may not touch the ball as much as he did last year, he'll still have early-round fantasy value due to his ability to fill up the stat sheet in other ways.
Many NBA pundits are already predicting the Warriors to explore trade involving Green, who signed a five-year, $82M extension in 2015, should he become a big reason why they can't win the title this season.
Finding a trade partner for Green would be pretty easy for the Warriors since the forward is already an established player in the league and multiple teams are salivating to have their hands on him.
Kenneth Faried Buzz:
Trade rumors surrounding Kenneth Faried has been hovering around since it was reported that the Denver Nuggets are interested in trading the power forward for a right trade package.
FanSided writer Will Ryan proposed a scenario wherein the Warriors trade for Faried. The Warriors don't have much wiggle room to absorb Faried's contract ($37M over 3 years), but they can sure deal Andre Iguodala to beef up their thin frontline.
However, this trade proposal seems far-fetched to happen as long as Green is the Warriors' starting power forward. Moreover, they are other high-value options the Warriors can explore to improve rebounding and rim protection, either through a trade for an underused youngster or through draft next summer.