Ranking Draymond Green's Ideal Landing Spots In NBA Free Agency

As 2023 NBA free agency tips off, four-time champion, four-time All-Star and eight-time All-Defensive selection Draymond Green figures to be one of the biggest names available.

After declining a $27.6 million player option for 2023-24, Green is an unrestricted free agent, and his multifaceted game would easily port to a number of other teams.

Of course, the Golden State Warriors will be in the mix. Green has years of chemistry and success to fall back on there, but the best of his other potential landing spots are ranked below, based on fit, the team's ability to contend and their path to actually landing him.

5. Los Angeles Lakers

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LeBron James and Draymond Green

Draymond has publicly expressed his appreciation for LeBron James on enough occasions to make people wonder about a potential team-up.

And though having both in a lineup with Anthony Davis would make things awfully cramped, it's easy to be intrigued about the wealth of playmaking such a team would have.

LeBron and Green are two of the best passing forwards of all time, and unselfishness can mask a lot of flaws (maybe even a lack of shooting).

But this landing spot feels like a reach, based mostly on L.A.'s avenues to get him there.

Right now, the Lakers are on track to have the non-taxpayer's mid-level exception, which brings a starting salary of $12.4 million. That's probably not enough to sell Draymond, no matter how big of a LeBron fan he is.

They could get to some cap space by declining Malik Beasley's team option, cutting Mo Bamba (whose salary is non-guaranteed) and renouncing their rights to D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, but my goodness, that's a lot of roster slashing for a 33-year-old forward who might not fit all that well with LeBron and AD.

A double sign-and-trade with Green and one of L.A.'s own free agents is another option, but those are pretty rare.

Ultimately, there are just so many hurdles here. And acquiring him is a cleaner process for the rest of the list.

4. Portland Trail Blazers

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Draymond Green and Damian Lillard

I didn't say it was a lot cleaner.

The Portland Trail Blazers are another team that will probably be limited to the mid-level exception this summer. And again, that starting salary almost certainly won't be competitive enough for Draymond.

A sign-and-trade here is a little easier to envision, though. Portland has more movable salaries than L.A. and perhaps even some young prospects to tempt a Warriors team nearing the end of its contending years (though Golden State's recent developmental efforts left a lot to be desired).

The fit for Draymond with the Blazers is probably better too.

Damian Lillard (who'd likely stay in Portland if the team was adding a veteran like Green) has long been a B (or even B-plus) version of Stephen Curry, so it's easy to imagine how those two would work together. And if Jerami Grant is re-signed, Green and Lillard would have a reliable three-point shooter to flank their pick-and-rolls.

Of course, having all three might make it a little trickier to get Scoot Henderson the on-court development he needs early on, but a taste of success wouldn't be a bad thing in the long run.

3. Dallas Mavericks

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Luka Dončić and Draymond Green

The Dallas Mavericks are another team that would likely have to orchestrate a sign-and-trade to land Draymond (just Luka Dončić's salary and Kyrie Irving's cap hold gets them to around $80 million against the cap).

But like Portland, the Mavs have multiple movable salaries. And theirs might be more intriguing for a Warriors team that's clearly in a win-now window.

As for fit, Dallas checks a lot of the boxes that a potential Lakers union would for Draymond. Between him, Luka and Kyrie, the Mavericks would have a ton of playmaking. And those two are far more dangerous outside shooters than LeBron and AD.

Draymond, of course, would also be a defensive culture setter for a team that finished in the bottom 10 on that side of the floor in 2022-23.

2. Sacramento Kings

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De'Aaron Fox and Draymond Green

Now, it's time to get serious.

Thanks to some draft-night deals that helped them get to $30-plus million in practical cap space (now down to $18 million after they extended Harrison Barnes), the Sacramento Kings can make Draymond a straight-up, old-fashioned, no-sign-and-trade-necessary offer that could at least make him think about leaving the luxury-taxed Warriors.

And plugging him into Harrison Barnes' starting 4 spot (with Barnes perhaps sliding to the 3) feels like the cleanest non-Golden State fit for Green.

The Kings already had the best offense in the NBA last season. And adding Green's playmaking will lead to more catch-and-shoot opportunities for everyone else.

More importantly, Sacramento's 25th-ranked defense could use a floor general, and Green can fill that role about as well as anyone in the league.

1. Golden State Warriors

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Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry

There wasn't much suspense here. The best fit and likeliest outcome for Draymond's free agency is and has always been a return to the team that drafted him.

There is just too much history (and potential for more success) here for the two sides to split.

Green has won four titles with the Warriors (with one as recent as 2022). He won a Defensive Player of the Year with them. And he stacked up all of his career playoff wins over replacement player in Golden State's blue and gold (he's 30th all time in that category).

Perhaps more important than all of that, he has a synergy with Curry that puts those two among the greatest duos in the history of basketball.

They're essentially each other's sentence finishers. In pick-and-roll, transition or otherwise, each always seems to know what the other will do or where he'll be. And even after a decade together, with hours of footage to scout, that chemistry makes them unpredictable and wildly successful.

During their 11 years together (including the playoffs), the Warriors are plus-12.8 points per 100 possessions in almost 20,000 minutes when Curry and Green are both on the floor, compared to plus-5.6 when Curry plays without Green.

With the luxury tax and new collective bargaining agreement, keeping Draymond will be costly, but for reasons that go way beyond the money, Golden State can't really afford to let him go.