Rumors were swirling around Draymond Green and the Los Angeles Lakers when Green was a free agent over the 2023 summer. After his incident with Jordan Poole last season, Green returning to Golden State was not a guarantee and many Lakers fans wanted him to join Los Angeles.
After all, at the time, the writing appeared to be on the wall. Green is a Klutch Sports client and notably has a great off-the-court relationship with LeBron James. After he was spotted with LeBron in France, many Lakers fans assumed it was only a matter of time until he signed with LA.
Green ultimately re-signed with the Warriors on a four-year, $100 million contract that opened the door for the Lakers to re-sign their internal free agents. Now, just five months later, Lakers fans should be happy that they didn't get the rumored signing they wanted as Green is self-destructing this season on the Warriors.
BREAKING: Draymond Green has been ejected pic.twitter.com/ZRphQekEPX
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 13, 2023
Lakers dodged a massive bullet in Draymond Green
Draymond was ejected from Tuesday night's game against the Phoenix Suns for the wild swing on Jusuf Nurkic, which you can see above. This is not the first incident for Green this season, as he was suspended for five games earlier this season for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold.
At this rate, this won't be the last time that Green gets in trouble on the court this season. Green has built a reputation for being a physical player and as the Warriors continue to struggle, his brash style of play has only gotten worse.
It is a shame for Draymond, too, as he is actually putting together a solid year this season. His defense is not at prime-Draymond levels but he is still an above-average defender and disruptor that makes a difference. Offensively, Draymond is shooting over 40% from three and has his highest points scored per 36 minutes since the 2015-16 season.
But none of that matters when he is having outburst after outburst that is hurting his team. Would things have been different if he actually signed with the Lakers? Maybe. But this would have been the exact kind of distraction that the Lakers can't have.
Lakers fans now will pretend like they never wanted Draymond in LA, but many of us did. Thankfully, us fans are not the ones making basketball decisions. That is left to the professionals.