Star Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green has issued a bold take on his team’s upside ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Golden State only has nine players signed to its standard roster as of this writing. The Warriors are still trying to hash out terms on a new deal for 22-year-old restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga, but allegedly have at least 3-and-D big man Al Horford and free agent former Golden State guards De’Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II waiting in the wings.
Kuminga’s next deal will dictate whether he remains in town to at least start the season or is offloaded in a sign-and-trade. He’s a young, athletic, versatile combo forward with still-untapped upside.
Why is Golden State so anxious to trade away Jonathan Kuminga?
In theory, he’s the exact type of player an aging Warriors club could use next year. But in practice, it appears he and Steve Kerr have grown tired of one another.
After bringing in six-time All-Star forward Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat as part of a blockbuster midseason trade, Golden State leveled up from what likely would have been a second straight lottery-bound season to instead making the second round of the playoffs last spring. The Warriors finished with a 48-34 record and the Western Conference’s No. 7 seed.
But rocking with a core of 37-year-old All-NBA point guard Stephen Curry and the 35-year-old duo of Green and Butler ultimately proved fatal. Both Curry and Butler were limited by injuries by the second round.
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With Curry sidelined following the first game of the Warriors’ series against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Butler playing hurt, Golden State couldn’t stop the younger, bigger, more athletic Timberwolves.
Now, Butler and Green have embarked on some tandem offseason workouts as they gear up for, hopefully, a deeper playoff run in 2026.
Green and Curry are old hands at winning championships, having won four championships together between 2015-22. Butler brought his Miami Heat squads to a pair of NBA Finals in 2020 and ’24, both losses.
Green may no longer be making All-Star teams, but he’s still a heck of a defender. The 6-foot-6 Michigan State product was named to his fifth All-Defensive First Team this past spring, and his ninth All-Defensive Team overall. Green, who like Curry and Butler appears to be well on his way to a Hall of Fame bid, has also made four All-Star squads and two All-NBA teams.
Per Chaz NBA, Green expressed remarkable optimism for the Warriors’ future, even with their roster still very much in flux.
“[I’m feeling] great,” Green remarked. “We’re about six weeks out [from the start of the season]. Right where I need to be, baby. And we’re getting that [explicit] this year.”
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