The Golden State Warriors' dynasty came to an abrupt end. After five straight Finals appearances and three titles, the Warriors turned into literally the worst team in the league last season, winning just 15 games. After Stephen Curry broke his hand, with Klay Thompson already out with a torn ACL and Kevin Durant departed for Brooklyn, the Warriors were content to effectively scrap the 2019-20 season.
Rivals perhaps hoped they would consider scrapping more than that.
After all, Curry is about to turn 33. Thompson has gone down for the season again, this time with a ruptured Achilles. Shaun Livingston and David West retired. Andre Iguodala was traded. As the Warriors have repurposed assets for future draft picks, selecting James Wiseman No. 2 overall this past draft and holding the rights to Minnesota's 2021 first-round pick, would they try to get ahead of the curve and cash in, say, a guy like Draymond Green while his value remained relatively high and look to lay a path to their next window of championship contention?
Had the Warriors considered this route, it appears one potential landing spot for Green could've been Portland, as Sam Amick of The Athletic recently noted that Damian Lillard has long been lobbying the Portland Trail Blazers to trade for Green should the opportunity ever arise.
"If we were handicapping Draymond trade destinations if the Warriors decided to blow it up," Amick said on The Athletic NBA Show podcast. "That's the one Damian and his group have for the last couple years been campaigning for."
We'll assume that Lillard started lobbying for Green in anticipation of Golden State's possible decline, as there was almost no way the Warriors would've considered trading Green in the middle of their championship runs. That would've been suicide. It wasn't out of the question, however, that Green -- who the Warriors signed to a four-year, $100 million extension in August of 2019 -- could've wound up on the trade block if and when the Warriors deemed that contract too punitive for a team no longer in the realistic title hunt.
For a minute, Green's individual value might've even dipped. He basically mailed in last season, and given his style of play and the miles he'd put on his body the last five years, there was a legitimate question as to whether he could ever be the same kind of defensive force again.
In just two games back this season, it appears Green still has elite game left in his bag, and it doesn't look like the Warriors are ready to stop trying to be the best team they can be. They just paid over $80 million, including luxury tax penalties, to sign Kelly Oubre Jr. in the wake of Thompson's Achilles tear. If there were ever a time to bite the bullet, scale back and possibly move off Green, that would've been it.
This is to say nothing of what kind of package the Blazers would've had to offer. Plenty of contenders would've been interested in Green, his potential decline notwithstanding, had he ever hit the market. The Blazers don't have much, if any, young talent that would seemingly intrigue Golden State, and their future draft picks aren't high enough to move the needle. CJ McCollum would likely have to be included for the money to work unless the Warriors were open to just taking on a bad or expiring deal with attached picks, and McCollum is both redundant with Thompson and on at a stage of his career that fits nowhere on the rebuilding timeline.
Still, you can understand Lillard's desire to add Green, who would immediately elevate Portland's long lackluster defense and give Lillard the kind of playmaking point-forward that has been so helpful to Curry all these years. Who know, maybe it'll still happen one day, but likely not in the window of Green's career where he can still be an elite player. All signs point to Golden State continuing to ride the Curry-Thompson-Green trio in anticipation of Thompson's return next season.
