“Mortgaging off the Future”: Insider Points Out Draymond Green’s Contradictory Statements About Warriors’ Trade Strategy

The Golden State Warriors are in a tricky place. They’re currently just one game above .500, looking up at 10 other teams in the Western Conference playoff race. Three games behind them are the Spurs, who just pulled off a major move for De’Aaron Fox. Should the Warriors be making moves to try to compete now, or should they be focused on the future? Depending on when you ask Draymond Green, you might get a different answer.

NBA insider Kevin O’Connor pointed out the contradiction in Green’s statements about the state of the Warriors on Monday and from two weeks ago.

Draymond Green two weeks ago: “Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and myself all disagree with mortgaging off the future of this organization, saying that we’re going for it right now. Bad teams do that. Bad organizations do that.”

Draymond now: https://t.co/3kjhovw5ci

— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) February 4, 2025

Green seems to have changed his stance on whether the Warriors should be making win-now moves, in part because of how much Golden State owner Joe Lacob hates losing.

“That guy is always trying to win. He’s always pushing the envelope as much as he can… You ever look at him when we’re losing? He ain’t going for no losing.”

Green said he doesn’t expect the front office to do anything dumb, but he understands and respects the need to be aggressive at the trade deadline, especially given the magnitude of recent moves that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers, Anthony Davis to the Mavericks, and Fox to the Spurs.

The Luka Doncic trade has changed the way the league thinks

NBA teams were so blindsided by the Luka-AD trade that they’ve all become Kevin Garnett screaming, “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE” after winning the NBA title. Contending teams used to be constrained by conservative thinking and would often treat the trade deadline not as a place to hunt superstars but as a spot to improve on the margins and make incremental gains for the rest of the season. That thinking is out the window now, as reflected by Green’s about-face from two weeks ago.

What exactly “aggressive” means to the Warriors remains to be seen. Chandler Parsons of the Run It Back podcast advocated earlier today for Golden State to make a run at Giannis Antetokounmpo, an idea that seems far-fetched, at best. The Warriors are reportedly out on the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes after being told he wouldn’t sign an extension with them. They’ve also been rumored to be interested in a reunion with Kevin Durant or a trade to acquire LeBron James and reunite him with his Olympic teammate Steph Curry.

After the Luka trade, we can’t rule anything out, but with the trade deadline just two days away, the Warriors better get moving if they hope to make a splash.