Draymond Green appears to threaten Warriors front office over contract situation

Draymond Green is still answering questions about the Warriors’ chemistry. His latest comments seem to be pointing fingers at the front office.

Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole at a Warriors practice has dominated the NBA conversation as preseason comes to an end. Draymond is back with the team and most of the comments coming from the team are about moving past the punch and getting back to business.

But Draymond still appears to have some things on his mind. Asked about whether the incident with Poole affected his view of his future with the Warriors, Draymond appeared to point directly at his contract situation.

The key quote here is this: “I have a contract that ranges through next year, if I so choose to pick up that option.”

To his credit, Draymond spends most of this two-minute clip trying to put the focus back on the Warriors’ hunt for a championship and making clear that he didn’t expect an extension this season and wasn’t planning on talking about it all season long. But he also added: “If you are going to let a contract situation linger, then you better be damn sure that you are willing to handle all the effects of the contract lingering, that it can have on the team.”

Draymond Green seems pretty frustrated with the Warriors’ front office

It doesn’t take too much imagination to the subtext of both of those quotes as frustration with the Warriors. He’s making clear that if he returns next year it will be because he chooses to do so, exercising his player option for next year.

Some of the early rumors around his altercation with Poole were that Poole had been antagonizing Draymond by bragging about his new contract extension. The source of those rumors was likely someone in Draymond’s camp and the subtext in these latest comments points back to the idea of that original frustration. He’s saying he’s not upset about not having an extension in place but contracts were likely a source of friction with Poole and he seems to be implying that if there are further problems this season, it’s on the Warriors’ front office for letting his contract situation “linger.”

Maybe we’re reading between the lines too much. But Draymond has a history of saying exactly what he means and the message here seems pretty clear.