Warriors' Draymond Green Wants to Play 'For Another 4 Years,' Won't Play Until Age 40
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green set a potential timeline for when he might step away from the NBA and call it a career.
Green said on Stephen A. Smith's Know Mercy podcast he has considered 15 seasons a reasonable target to hit. He explained he has come to that conclusion in part because, being such a prodigious trash talker, he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of verbal barbs from his peers (warning: video contains profanity):
"We have a very finite time to do what we're doing. I'm 32 years old," he said (via HoopsHype). "If I'm being honest, I don't want to play basketball until I'm 40. I really want to play basketball for another four years after this."
Great players typically don't retire when they're still performing near their peak or at least at a level required to remain an effective starter.
Green isn't the same kind of defensive wizard he was a few years ago, but he's still averaging 7.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 0.9 steals. If he's still playing like this at 36, he might change his tune regarding how long he'll continue.
In general, you can at least understand why the four-time All-Star would prefer to avoid the kind of slights he famously dished out to Paul Pierce in Pierce's final season.
