Draymond Green exited the Warriors’ season-ending 122-101 loss in Game 6 against the Los Angeles Lakers with just under 11 minutes to play.
He did not return, but he sure wanted to.
Green told reporters after the game that he sustained a calf cramp in the fourth quarter, and had it checked out by the Warriors’ training staff. When he was ready to go back in the game, Golden State’s president of basketball operations and general manager Bob Myers told him not to check back in.
“I would’ve gone back in the game,” Green said. “Bob stopped me.
“He said, ‘We’re down 22 points with six minutes to go. You go back out there and you tear your calf and do rehab the rest of the summer trying to chase a 22-point lead. It’s not smart, and we’re not doing it.’
“I could’ve went back in the game, and I think that’s a good sign.”
At the time Green checked out, the Warriors trailed by 11 points. The Lakers rattled off an 11-0 run over the next two minutes without Green on the floor to put the game away.
With the Warriors having no answer to the Lakers’ run, Myers elected to sit Green because he didn’t want to risk further injury to the heartbeat of his roster.
Now, Green, who scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Game 6 loss, enters an interesting offseason.
He could opt into his $27.6 million player option for the 2023-24 NBA season and play another year with the Warriors. Or he also could opt out and either sign a new, multiyear deal with Golden State or enter the open market and sign elsewhere.
“As I’ve told you guys for years, I want to be a Warrior for the rest of my life,” Green said Friday night. “I want to ride out with the same dudes I rode in with.”
Anything can happen this summer. But Green appears confident Game 6 won’t be his last night wearing the Warriors uniform.
