Draymond Green free agency: What it means for Warriors' pursuit of LeBron James and Anthony Davis

Draymond Green had a $27.7 million player option for next season that he was widely expected to opt into. At age 36, it is extremely unlikely that any other team aside from the Warriors would be willing to give him that level of salary. He therefore surprised everyone by turning down that option on Monday morning, making him an unrestricted free agent who is free to sign elsewhere.

While Green could now theoretically switch teams, that possibility seems unlikely. Here's what his future holds, and why his move could signal much bigger things in the form of pursuits for LeBron James and Anthony Davis. 

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Why Draymond Green became a free agent

As first reported by Yahoo's Kevin O'Connor on Sunday, the Warriors are trying to trade for Anthony Davis and sign LeBron James as a free agent. By opting out of his deal, Green is giving his team the flexibility to pursue those moves. 

With Green's money temporarily off the books, the Warriors have opened up the $15.1 million mid-level exception. It would mark a significant pay cut, but LeBron could take that money and play for Golden State next season. 

Green should eventually re-sign with the Warriors. It is extremely unlikely that he passed up that much money for next season if he didn't already have some sort of wink-wink deal in place to return on a completely new contract. He will probably sign a longer-term deal for less money up-front. 

The potential of a Warriors team including Stephen Curry, LeBron, AD, and Green is certainly intriguing. Those four are 38, 41, 33, and 36 respectively. All have injury concerns. They would be great on paper when healthy though, and they would give Curry the final gasp at contention that Mike Dunleavy has been trying to provide. 

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LeBron James to the Warriors is looking like a more realistic possibility

LeBron and Curry linked up during the 2024 Olympics, and we saw firsthand how powerful that duo could be as they led Team USA to the gold medal. Steve Kerr coached that team, so LeBron has some familiarity there. 

Curry is planning on meeting with LeBron this summer in order to recruit him, per Clutch Points' Brett Siegel. Green and LeBron share the same agency and are friends. And LeBron has said in the past that he'd love to play with Curry at some point. 

LeBron's availability comes as he is the No. 1 player in this free agency class. While he was still a very good player for the Lakers this season, he's not worth the $52.6 million that he earned last season and will have to take a substantial pay cut wherever he goes.

The Lakers have an interesting decision on their hands. If they move on from LeBron, it would open up significant cap space to reshape their roster around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. If LeBron were to come back, that option disappears and they'd likely settle for bringing back many of their current free agents. 

The Lakers and LeBron don't seem dead-set on pursuing that latter option. The two sides have not met yet, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst. That has opened the door to LeBron moving teams, and the Warriors now appear to be at the top of that list. 

The Warriors' pursuit of Anthony Davis

Davis is on a $58.4 million contract and has a player option for $62.8 million in 2027-28. He doesn't have much value on that deal, as evidenced by the low price that the Wizards paid in order to acquire him last year. 

If Davis were traded for, then Jimmy Butler would have to be in the deal for salary-matching purposes. The draft assets that the Wizards paid included a top-20 protected 2030 pick that may not have even conveyed and this year's No. 30 pick. The Warriors could easily top that offer. They have two first-round picks and four pick swaps that they could include in any offer. 

Davis is still capable of playing at a high level. He's an All-Defensive talent who would give the Warriors a look that they haven't had previously. The duo of Davis and Green would provide some serious spacing issues, but they would be the best defensive pairing in the league. Davis would also provide Curry with a lob threat that he hasn't really had previously. And he won a championship alongside LeBron in 2020.

Davis' issues are with his availability. He's averaged 24.4 games missed per season over his 14-year career. That number has ballooned up to an average of 44.3 games missed over the past three seasons. 

A Davis trade would raise the Warriors' ceiling, but it would also come with significant risk that the star wouldn't be healthy enough to contribute much. At the very worst though, Golden State would be a fun team worth watching.