Klay Thompson and Draymond Green weren’t on board with championship core’s young contributors earning $100 million-plus extensions: Report
According to reports, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson weren't too happy with the Golden State Warriors front office for how they handled the team's contract situation. Following the franchise's fourth championship of the Big Three era, the Warriors reportedly prioritized extending young players rather than their longtime veterans.
At the time, the team offered Jordan Poole a four-year deal that paid him $140 million. Andrew Wiggins was signed to a four-year deal worth $109 million. On the flip side, the Warriors waited until the 11th hour to finalize Green's extension, leading to a slew of free agency rumors last year.
While Green and the Warriors were able to reach a four-year $100 million extension, they were unable to reach an agreement with Klay Thompson this offseason. As a result, Thompson wound up signing a three-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks this week, breaking up the Warriors' big three.
On the heels of the four-time champ signing with the Dallas Mavericks, Ramona Shelburne revealed that according to sources, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green had been frustrated with the Warriors front office since the 2022 offseason.
"The Warriors prioritized extending Poole -- for four years and $140 million -- and young swingman Andrew Wiggins over Thompson and Green the summer after they won a championship, which didn't sit well with either of the two veterans, sources said.”
Looking at the fallout between Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and the Golden State Warriors
While Klay Thompson's frustration with the Warriors' front office was a slow burn, with things reaching a head late last season, that wasn't the case for Draymond Green. Amid Jordan Poole's contract extension talk with the team, he and Green wound up in an infamous fight at practice.
According to reports, Poole allegedly called Green an "expensive backpack" for Steph Curry to carry, resulting in the longtime enforcer retaliating back in September of last year. The situation didn't change the Warriors' stance on Poole, ultimately signing him to a four-year deal while Green took some time away from the team to work on himself.
In the case of Klay Thompson, tensions between him and the Warriors didn't start to mount until last season. While he eventually accepted coming off the bench and indicated that he would be willing to take less money to stay in Golden State, he and the team couldn't come to an agreement on a deal.
According to reports, the Warriors, and several other teams, offered Thompson contracts, however, he wound up taking less money to play for a contending team in Dallas. In addition, he also reportedly told Steph Curry not to use his influence to sway the team as the idea of breaking up the team's big three loomed overhead.
Now, with Draymond Green in the twilight years of his career, the team will be looking to figure out how they can replace Thompson's output on both ends of the floor.
Young players like Brandin Podziemski have been promising and reliable, however, if the team wants to make the most of Curry's remaining years they'll have to get creative throughout the rest of free agency given their cap situation.