Warriors: 3 dream Draymond Green replacements and 1 to avoid at all cost

Dream Draymond Green replacements for Warriors: Khris Middleton, Bucks

This one is a massive dream for the Warriors because there is almost no way they could physically slot a salary like Khris Middleton’s projected deal into their books. Middleton is presumably opting out of the final year of his deal worth $40 million with the Bucks. Though it’s hard to see him getting that in average annual value on his next deal, he could easily be in the $20-30 million range, if not higher.

Remember, the Warriors are $113 million over the salary cap and will save about $27 million once Green’s deal is off the books. Making a move like signing Middleton would take some seriously crafty work from the Warriors, like a dual sign-and-trade sending Green out and bringing Middleton in… But even that almost certainly just puts the Warriors right back to where they are in terms of cap space.

That said, we’re looking at dream free agents here, folks. By definition, these are outside the realm of realistic probability.

Middleton is a great fill-in for Green. He’s a plus-defender and brings more offensive weaponry, especially in the long-range, than Green did. Still, he offers complementary offensive skills to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in that Middleton is comfortable operating in the mid-range and could leave the shots from distance to the others (Thompson averaged about the same amount of mid-range field goals made last season, but on a lower shooting percentage).

Middleton’s down year in 2022-23 could price him lower than he’d like, but he’ll still be beyond the Warriors’ hopes and capabilities, most likely. Unless he is all-in on taking a historical discount just to ring chase, count this one as a prayer.