Free agent Gary Payton II has agreed on a one-year, $3.9 million deal to return to the Golden State Warriors, sources tell ESPN. Payton returns to the Warriors for his seventh year in the Bay Area -- and his 11th NBA season.
You don’t see LOYALTY like this anymore 💯
Only 7 players in NBA History have given 18+ seasons to a SINGLE franchise without ever leaving: 🤯
Reggie Miller (Pacers)
John Stockton (Jazz)
Kobe Bryant (Lakers)
Tim Duncan (Spurs)
Udonis Haslem (Heat)
Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks)
Stephen Curry (Warriors)
In an era of super teams, ring chasing and trade requests, this list will NEVER be matched.
Insane commitment. Insane careers!
The Warriors decided not to trade for Jaylen Brown because they felt he wouldn’t be able to carry the franchise after Steph Curry retires, per @loganmmurdock
“Should they have gotten in on the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes? The Warriors had an opportunity to trade for the former Celtic before the deadline in February, but couldn’t build an organizational consensus that Brown would be the right player to carry the Warriors beyond the Curry era.”
(Via https://t.co/BDyLWUZLRB)
Draymond Green has agreed to return to the Golden State Warriors on a one-year, $27.7 million deal, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. The contract is the same Green opted out of to give the Warriors flexibility to pursue LeBron James, but the sides land his return Tuesday.
Klay Thompson wants to compete next season for a championship, and many title-contending teams are preparing to pursue him soon, per @ShamsCharania.
The Mavericks would prefer to trade Thompson for an asset instead of buying him out.
Thompson’s time in Dallas will soon be over.
Some rival executives think that Steph Curry should NOT sign an extension with the Warriors when he becomes eligible on August 29th due to their ‘lack of urgency to compete for another championship’
If Curry chooses NOT to extend with Golden State, he will become an unrestricted free agent in 2027
(via Evan Sidery h/t @bballforever_)
Draymond Green explains why he’d rather miss the playoffs with Golden State than leave to chase another championship:
“If there’s something I can offer a team and I’m the missing piece that helps them get over the hump, that’s different. That’s contributing to a championship. But going somewhere just to fall into one more? No. The Warriors would have to not want me anymore.”
“I’ve been there 12 years. People forget the Warriors were the laughingstock of the NBA when I arrived. They won 23 games the year before. When I got drafted, Marshawn Lynch laughed at me. He said, ‘You got drafted to the Warriors? Y’all suck.’”
“I remember walking around downtown Oakland as a rookie, passing out tickets to games. That was October 2012. We won our first championship in June 2015.”
“We built this thing from the ground. That’s our baby. The Warriors were nothing. To see that growth and take part in it isn’t something you just walk away from. They would have to not want me anymore. I will always do right by that organization. I’ve never been treated badly.”
“If I had to stay in Golden State another five years and we didn’t make the playoffs once, I’d be totally fine with that. I’d rather struggle with the same guys I succeeded with.”
“We succeeded together. I’d rather struggle together. As long as they have me, I have no reason to ever want to leave.”