Draymond Green, Stephen Curry open up about uncertain futures after Warriors’ ouster

PHOENIX — Draymond Green couldn’t have made his intentions any clearer after Friday night’s 111-96 season-ending loss to the Phoenix Suns: He wants to remain a member of the Golden State Warriors.

“If the question is where do I wanna be?” Green said. “I think it’s pretty obvious, guys, where the hell I’m going. If they want me here, I’ll be right here.”

The 36-year-old, who has risen from a second-round draft pick in 2012 to a Hall of Fame-level forward who has helped the Warriors earn four NBA championships over the last decade and a half, was candid in his commentary on a night when he acknowledged that he wasn’t exactly sure what his future held in the Bay after 14 seasons. Green has a player option close to $28 million for the final year of a four-year $100 million deal he signed in 2023.

But as he hinted in his commentary after Friday’s game, that is only part of the equation for next season. Green’s salary could still be packaged over the summer as part of a larger deal, depending on whether he picks up the option. Green, when asked specifically about the future, was unsure about what he felt.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not retiring from basketball, though. I still love to play and I think I’m still pretty decent. But this league we’re in, it’s an interesting one. And it’s one that you don’t really control everything, so for me, I hope I’ve done enough to still be here. Because at the end of the day, if I ain’t done enough I don’t want to be here.”

Green struggled to find consistency throughout the season, especially on the offensive end. He averaged just 8.4 points a game, his lowest output since 2021-22, and noticeably struggled without star guard Stephen Curry when the veteran guard was forced to miss over two months because of a runner’s knee injury. Still, Green showed durability throughout the season — and his defensive prowess shone brightly at various points, culminating in a showcase down the stretch of Wednesday’s first Play-In game against Los Angeles Clippers’ star Kawhi Leonard, as he repeatedly shut down the All-Star wing when the Warriors needed him the most.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who embraced Green and Curry just before the final buzzer, repeatedly said during the season that he believed Green was the best defensive player he had ever seen. As Green looks ahead, another option at his disposal would be to decline the option but negotiate a multiple-year extension at a lesser yearly rate, thus giving the Warriors a little more wiggle room with salary cap flexibility over the summer.

Green has spoken openly about how proud he is of the standard he has helped the Warriors create alongside Curry and former teammate, Klay Thompson. He and Kerr spoke during the season about how they wanted Green to finish his career with the Warriors. But for the first time in his career, Green knew just before February’s trade deadline that there was a chance he might be moved elsewhere as the organization tried to acquire Milwaukee Bucks All-Star big man Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“Like I’ve told y’all before, I don’t ever want, ‘Yo, we just gonna keep him around because of what he’s done before,’” Green said. “Like what can I still do? And by the way, that’s not just playing, right? That’s leadership, that’s helping bring the young guys along. That’s helping move the organization forward.

“So hopefully I’ve done enough to still be here, but if not, we’ll see what it looks like. It’s been a hell of a run. I hope I’ve got high enough in the meter of doing things. If not, we’ll see what happens next.”

Green is known for his honesty in his dealings with the media, but Friday’s postgame news conference offered a different tenor for the outspoken forward. He was still open about the various possibilities that await him in the weeks ahead with the only team he’s ever known, but the bravado that has defined his words at times through the years was missing. He understood that things could look much different for himself and the Warriors when next season begins.

After getting ejected by veteran official Scott Foster with 1:04 left, Green slowly made his way off the floor, waving his arms in the air to get the Phoenix crowd even louder as he walked back to the Warriors’ locker room. It was an awkward ending to one of the more emotional seasons in recent memory.

“I think we’ve been hit with more injuries this season than any I’ve ever seen,” Green said. “It’s not quite the ending you want, but it happens. We whupped on a lot of people for a long time. Once you get whupped on, you can’t put your head down; you’ve got to take the punches and move forward. We take pride in not being frontrunners … got to take the good with the bad, man. The best foot we had, we put forward and at the end of the day, as long as we do that, you’ve got to live with it.”

As Green waits to see how his future unfolds, Curry made several noteworthy observations about his own future. The 38-year-old star was optimistic that with a summer full of rehab on his ailing knee, he would be able to come back strong to start next season.

“I don’t feel like there’s gonna be any real long-term symptoms or anything,” he said.

Curry, who just completed his 17th season in the league, said he still sees several years remaining in his playing career.

“Multiple for sure,” he said. “That’s more than one? Yes. Perfect.”

Curry also said he was open to the idea of potentially discussing a contract extension with the Warriors over the summer. Curry still has one year left on his current deal, worth almost $63 million.

“For sure,” Curry said. “But none of those conversations have happened. “So it will be a busy summer for the Warriors.”