As it stands now, the Warriors have 10 players under contract for the 2023-24 season. Then there are two big question marks: Draymond Green and Donte DiVincenzo. Both guys hold player options for next season and could create a demand on the open market as free agents. But both guys sound like they want to stay on the Warriors.
After Friday’s season-ending 122-101 loss to the Lakers in Game 6 of the second round, reporters, pundits and fans are already thinking about the future of the franchise. For Green and DiVincenzo, it’s still too early to make any decisions, but their heart is clearly with Golden State.
Green can come back on a $27.6 million contract for next year, but The Athletic reported he will seek a multiyear extension with the Warriors this offseason.
“We’ll see what happens as far as my contract goes,” Green said Friday night in LA. “Obviously I have an opt-out, everybody knows about that. I know about that, I’m aware of that. As I’ve told you guys for years, I want to be a Warrior for the rest of my life. I wanna ride out with the same dudes I rode in with. I will put in the work to make that happen.”
Perhaps the best avenue for Draymond, 33, would be to take a lower annual salary in exchange for more years. Unless Joe Lacob is willing to go upwards of $500 million next season, some players on the current squad might have to go in order to keep Draymond, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson together.
DiVincenzo holds a $4.7 player option next season. He showed enough skill, shooting, defense and hustle to earn a multiyear contract as a free agent if he decides to opt out. Donte was beloved by his teammates and coaches, and had nothing but love back.
“To be completely honest, I haven't thought that much about anything in the off-season,” DiVincenzo said Saturday in San Francisco. “I thought we would still be playing right now to be completely honest. What I will say is I absolutely love being a Golden State Warrior. The guys in the locker room, the coaching staff, the training staff, from day one, it's felt like home. So obviously I would love to be a Warrior. But I'll cross that bridge; we'll figure it out with the front office and everything. We'll figure out that bridge once we get here.”
“My goal this summer is to just get better. You know, to be able to take a step next year for the Warriors and try to expand even more; to be in a system I'm familiar with and just grow from there and get better as a player and as a man.”
That sounds like someone who wants to stick around. Whether it’s feasible he can get an extension out of the Warriors is another issue.
The Warriors haven’t been playing financial gymnastics with the salary cap in recent years, instead just bulldozing past the luxury tax limits and penalties. But with just six first- and second-round home playoff games this season, the Warriors don’t have the bonus cash and added value to the brand that another title run would have brought.
In the fourth quarter of Friday’s finale, general manager Bob Myers – whose contract expires this summer – was spotted chatting with owner Joe Lacob on the sideline. They have a big summer ahead of them.
If this is the end of Myers’ tenure, he helped out ‘til the very end. Draymond experienced calf tightness and briefly went back to the locker room in the fourth quarter Friday, before making an attempt to return to the game. By that time, it was decided, so Myers told him to sit down.
“I woulda went back in the game but Bob stopped me,” Green said. “He said, ‘We’re down 22 points and there’s five-and-a-half, six minutes to go. You go back out there and you tear your calf, you’ll be rehabbing for the rest of the summer. Trying to chase a 22-point? It’s not smart and you’re not going to.’ I coulda went back in the game.”
Myers is savvy. It wasn’t just about the 22-point game, it was about getting Green into the offseason healthy as he gets set to negotiate would could be the final contract of his career.
That type of trust and synergy between Myers and Green is the essence of the dynasty. If that was Myers’ final act as GM – kudos to him for looking out for his guy.
