Can Sacramento steal Draymond in free agency?

Seems more likely to be Dray using the Iguodala playbook but things happen

John Hollinger thinks SAC might be targeting Draymond Green in free agency. Yes, Draymond says he wants to come back and the team wants him back, but you never know what will happen when the negotiations get tense.

Hollinger: Sacramento has cap room

from The Athletic:

Of all the things to fly under the radar on draft night, I think this one is the most important. The Kings jettisoned the 24th pick to Dallas in exchange for the Mavs taking on the unwanted two years and $25 million left on Richaun Holmes’ contract.

This move allows the Kings to be a major player in free agency, with an estimated $34 million in cap room if they renounce Harrison Barnes, Alex Len, Chimezie Metu, Matthews Dellavedova and Terrence Davis, decline the team option on Kessler Edwards and waive P.J. Dozier. They can generate another $2 million by renouncing Trey Lyles, but his cap hold is so low that he’s probably worth keeping on the books if possible.

This is notable, of course, because follow the dots:

• The Kings have a glaring need at power forward.

• The Kings need to improve their defense.

• The Kings have a Warriors-obsessed owner who was formerly a Golden State minority owner.

• The Kings’ head coach was the Warriors’ lead assistant until a year ago.

• Draymond Green is a free agent.

The Warriors have to be sweating right now, at the very least, because there is now a highly plausible rival Green bidder on the market.

What are the chances that Draymond leaves?

It seems very likely that Draymond tries to create as large an offer as possible from SAC. This would literally be out of Andre Iguodala’s playbook, who did this with exactly the same team.

KNBR (Jul 19 2017):

Almost instantly after the Warriors won their second title in three years last month, talk in Golden State turned to the free agency of Andre Iguodala. The veteran finished up a four-year deal at the end of last season and rumors were flying about who he’d be meeting with when July 1 came around. San Antonio, Houston, Los Angeles and Sacramento were just a few of the conference rivals linked to Iggy.

But shortly after the free agent period began, Iguodala put pen to paper on a three-year deal worth $48 million. In the weeks since signing, most with the Warriors said they were fairly confident that Iguodala would ultimately stay in the Bay Area. Steve Kerr, joining Tolbert and Lund on KNBR Wednesday afternoon, took it one step further. The head coach said there was never a doubt in his mind that his versatile leader off the bench would return.

“I know Andre well and I know he had no desire to go anywhere else,” Kerr said. “But he’s a good agent, I can tell you that. He used his leverage well, and created some, and he and his agent did a good job. I’m really happy for him, he’s helped us win two championships. So I’m thrilled to have him back for three more years and I think he’s gonna help us win a lot more games.”

Though it would be understandable for the Warriors to be at least slightly frustrated with Iguodala playing them to get more money, Kerr was nothing but praiseworthy of his tactics. The coach was equally appreciative of his owners’ willingness to shell out the cash.

“That’s smart, that’s how you play the game,” Kerr said. “I give Joe (Lacob) credit, Joe stepped up, and Peter (Guber), and obviously they’re spending a lot of money. But we know we’ve got this window and hopefully it’ll last a while, but it never does. You get into a cycle like we’re in right now you’ve gotta enjoy it and make the most of it and you have to have an ownership group that’s willing to spend the money to make the most of that window. You know, Andre’s such a big part of it and it’s great that he can be on board the next few years.”

So the likely scenario is that Draymond finally returns to GSW after squeezing as much as he can from competitors and negotiating to the last day.

HOWEVER, in the Iguodala situation

• the salary cap rules were not a deterrent to giving him whatever salary the market could bear. Today, the new CBA is making it a team building disaster for teams over the “second apron” line and this is clearly discouraging even Joe Lacob. There is some Draymond salary limit above which it will be very difficult to keep Klay Thompson and Draymond Green both and also be able to duck the second apron. If this limit is too insulting for Draymond, we could see an unplanned split for everyone.

• SAC was a sad sack team with no hope of competing. This year, SAC proved in the playoffs that they are for real and, given how aging works, they have a very rosy outlook, maybe even rosier outlook than GSW for the rest of Draymond’s next contract.

So… stay tuned.