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Friday, March 29, 2024

Golden State, Green agree to 4-year pact

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San Francisco, United States—Three-time NBA champion Draymond Green has agreed to a four-year maximum contract extension with the Golden State Warriors, linking him to the club until mid-2024, ESPN reported on Saturday (Sunday Philippine time).

The 29-year-old power forward, an emotional leader as well as a versatile playmaker, was set to become a free agent next July but will stay with the Warriors, his agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN.

Green’s remaining contract now goes for five years and pays $118 million.

Green provides inside power and rebounding that helps provide room for 3-point sharpshooters Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to maximize their outside shooting skills.

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After helping the Warriors win the 2015 NBA crown, he combined with All-Star center Kevin Durant on a formidable Warriors’ dynasty lineup that brought titles in 2017 and 2018 before Durant was hurt in the 2019 playoffs and Golden State lost the NBA Finals in June to the Toronto Raptors.

Green, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, has been on the NBA’s All-Defensive first or second team for five consecutive seasons.

Since his NBA debut in 2012, Green has a team-high 22 triple-doubles and the fifth-most in the NBA in that span.

Along with guard D’Angelo Russell plus Curry and Thompson, Green gives the Warriors four NBA All-Stars under contract as they move into a new $1 billion arena in San Francisco next season.

Thompson, who suffered a major left knee injury in the NBA Finals, signed a five-year maximum deal worth $190 million in July.

Russell was obtained in a trade deal that helped Durant wind up in Brooklyn and signed to a four-year contract worth $117 million.

Green has career averages of 9.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocked shots a game in the regular season. In his 123 career playoff appearances, those figures all rise to 12.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks a game. 

Meanwhile, New York Knicks forward Julius Randle became the latest NBA playmaker to leave the USA national team preparing for the Basketball World Cup, citing a family matter.

The move follows exits by many of the NBA’s top stars, including Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis and James Harden as the Americans try to assemble a squad that can seek a third consecutive world title at the global hoops showdown in China, which starts on August 31.

The 15 players remaining in the US provisional lineup will gather Monday (Tuesday Philippine time) in Las Vegas for a five-day training camp. A final 12-man roster is expected to be announced in two weeks.

The US team looks likely to have a Boston Celtics flavor with guard Kemba Walker, the only US NBA All-Star in the mix, joined by Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum.

Other NBA players competing for a US World Cup spot include Sacramento King’s Harrison Barnes, Utah Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell, Toronto Raptor’s Kyle Lowry, Kyle Kuzma of the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks’ Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, Denver Nugget’s Mason Plumlee, Houston’s P.J. Tucker, Indiana Pacer’s Myles Turner and Chicago Bull’s Thaddeus Young.

Lowry helped the Raptors with the NBA title in June. He and Barnes were also members of the Rio Olympic gold medal squad.

Randle, 24, averaged a career-high 21.4 points with 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists last season for New Orleans in his fifth NBA campaign, having previously spent four years with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

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