Over the last two seasons and the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign, the Portland Trail Blazers rank fourth to last in the NBA in steals, second to last in assists and dead last in defensive rating. In that same span, Warriors forward Draymond Green ranks second among all forwards in assists, second in steals and in the top 15 in defensive rating.
Hmm...
On the latest episode of The HoopsHype Podcast with Michael Scotto, embedded above and available on Audacy, Warriors writer Anthony Slater informed us that a certain member of the Portland Trail Blazers would love to have Green's services. Those statistics are probably a sufficient reason as to why this is the case, so it doesn't matter much that Slater didn't reveal much of the thinking behind the player's desires — we can probably work that out ourselves.
Instead, Slater kept it simple.
"The Blazers would love to have him," he said. "(Damian) Lillard's been obsessed with getting him there for a while."
Obsessed? That's a strong word and, for a player of Lillard's star power, would suggest that the team would do a whole lot to try and get Green in town. Evidently it hasn't worked out so far, and with the Warriors' 5-1 start even before Klay Thompson's return, it doesn't look like Green is going to go anywhere this season.
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In the future, however, we shouldn't be so sure. The futures of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson seem secure to Slater, but...
"But with Draymond, he's got two years left, and he, like you said, has had somewhat of flirtations with the Lakers and even the Blazers a bit, and his game isn't aging quite like Steph Curry's is," Slater said. "It does feel like, if the Warriors lowball him coming off this next contract or whatever happens over the next couple of years, I could see his situation morphing into more of a breakup. And that's not necessarily because he wants to not play with Steph Curry.
"I think in their ideal world, Draymond, Steph and Klay are chasing titles until they're all retiring together, but I just could see Draymond's situation playing out a little bit more messy than Steph's. And the fact that Draymond is not locked into a long-term deal at this point like Steph is, you know, and if another team out there is willing to give Draymond a contract that maybe the Warriors aren't in a couple years, I could see that going differently, even if their dream scenario might be to play forever."
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