Draymond Green Declines Warriors Player Option, Clearing Path for LeBron James and Anthony Davis Pursuit

SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green has declined his nearly $28 million player option for the 2026-27 season, technically becoming a free agent Monday morning even as he is widely expected to re-sign with the Golden State Warriors on a new deal that would give the franchise added flexibility to chase a far bigger offseason prize: LeBron James.

ESPN's Shams Charania first reported Green's decision, which a league source later confirmed to The Athletic. Green faced a 5 p.m. ET deadline Monday to decide on the option, which was worth approximately $27.6 million to $27.7 million depending on the source. According to a team source, Green plans to keep his options open as the Warriors navigate the rest of the offseason, but the 36-year-old forward is expected to ultimately return for what would be his 15th season with the franchise.

The timing of Green's decision is no coincidence. League sources told ESPN that the Warriors are planning an aggressive pursuit of James in free agency, which officially opens Tuesday, while simultaneously exploring a trade for Washington Wizards center Anthony Davis. Team and league sources had indicated for weeks that Green would likely turn down the one-year guarantee in favor of negotiating a longer-term contract at a reduced annual salary, a structure that would lower his cap charge for next season and give Golden State the financial room it needs to pursue a significant roster upgrade. NBA insiders Mark Stein and Jake Fischer had reported as far back as April that the Warriors' preference was for Green to take exactly this path.

Golden State's interest in James is not new, but the dynamics around his free agency appear to be shifting. Team sources had long believed James was likely to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, the team he has played for since 2018. However, negotiations between James and the Lakers in the lead-up to Tuesday's free agency opening have reportedly stalled, a development that has opened the door for the Warriors to make a real push. Green's decision to decline his option gives Golden State the ability to offer James the full $15.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception, regardless of whether a separate trade for Davis comes together.

Any deal to acquire Davis from Washington would almost certainly require the Warriors to include star wing Jimmy Butler, who is on an expiring contract worth roughly $56.8 million to $57 million and is still working his way back from a torn ACL suffered earlier this year. Golden State would also likely need to attach draft capital, with the team holding two future first-round picks and four first-round pick swaps available to use in trade talks. Davis is set to earn $58.4 million in 2026-27 and holds a $62.7 million player option for the following season. Some league sources view any active pursuit of Davis as serving a dual purpose, both as a genuine roster upgrade and as additional motivation aimed at convincing James to leave Los Angeles for the Bay Area, given that the two won an NBA championship together with the Lakers in 2020 and have remained close friends since.

For Green himself, last season presented one of the more difficult offensive stretches of his long career with Golden State. He averaged 8.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, with his rebounding total marking his lowest output since the 2013-14 season and his assist numbers his lowest since 2014-15. Even as his offensive production declined, Green's defensive impact remained a meaningful factor for the Warriors in favorable matchups, and he continued to serve as the team's emotional anchor and one of its most respected voices in the locker room. Despite the offensive struggles, Green appeared in 68 games during a season in which the Warriors, like much of the league, dealt with a heavy run of injuries.

Golden State's season ended with a loss to the Phoenix Suns in the Play-In Tournament in April. Speaking afterward, Green reflected on the difficulty of that stretch while making clear he still wanted to remain part of the organization moving forward.

"I think it's pretty obvious, guys, where the hell I'm going," Green said.

That comment came amid broader uncertainty about Green's future with the team, even as he continued to express confidence that his path forward remained with Golden State if the franchise wanted him back. The most memorable moment of his season, however, had nothing to do with his contract status. Two days before Christmas, Green left the bench during a game against the Orlando Magic following a heated, public argument with head coach Steve Kerr. Kerr publicly apologized for the exchange the following day, and by most accounts, the relationship between the two men appeared to strengthen rather than fracture in the aftermath of the incident.

Throughout the season, Green has been outspoken about wanting to protect the foundation he helped build in Golden State over more than a decade, repeatedly emphasizing that the culture and success the team established should be designed to outlast any individual player, including himself, rather than serving only the present roster.

With free agency set to officially open Tuesday, the Warriors now find themselves with newly created flexibility, a roster anchor in Stephen Curry, a head coach returning in Kerr, and a stated ambition to pursue two of the league's bigger remaining names this offseason. Whether that pursuit ultimately lands James, Davis, both or neither remains to be seen, but Green's decision Monday removed one obstacle standing in the way, even as it leaves his own contract situation technically unresolved for the time being. For a player who has spent his entire 14-season NBA career with one franchise, all available signs point toward that streak continuing into a 15th year, just on a different financial footing than the one he walked away from Monday afternoon.