Draymond Green remains defiant over Warriors' championship aspirations

The Golden State Warriors spent this summer licking their wounds after the Sacramento Kings eliminated them in the opening round of the play-in tournament. Steve Kerr's team struggled throughout the 2023-24 season, losing multiple games from winning positions.

Klay Thompson's departure at the start of free agency threw another curveball Golden State's way. Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the front office have done an admirable job of pivoting following Thompson's decision to join the Dallas Mavericks. Golden State has a deeper roster than last season, courtesy of De'Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield , who all joined the franchise during the offseason.

Still, the Warriors' best chance of success is if their young core can take another developmental step. Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga have flashed All-Star upside. Trayce Jackson-Davis and Moses Moody could become high-level rotation players.

For a veteran like Draymond Green, seeing the potential within the Warriors roster is encouraging, which is why he's still confident he and Steph Curry can contend for another championship before their careers are over.

“I know I ain’t done. I know he ain’t done,” Green told Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic . “So it ain’t like, ‘All right, I feel like I’m at the end. I’m cashing it in.’ Nah. We can do that s— again. I know we can do it again. I’m not a part of the consortium that don’t think we can get it done. But in doing it again, you’ve got to acknowledge that it’s not going to look like it did before. I’d struggle if we were just cashing it in. That ain’t for me. But I don’t feel like anyone around here is doing that. We’re actively trying to put the pieces together to build.”

As long as Curry is healthy and in the rotation, the Warriors will be a threat on the offensive end. Even at 36, he's a top-five point guard in the world. Green is still one of the best defensive players in the league. Therefore, Golden State already has two key components to a championship team: the go-to offensive spark and the generational defensive talent. The next step will be for Kuminga or Podziemski to ascend to an All-Star level.

Green is right to be excited about the Warriors' future. He's helped develop the franchise into one of the biggest, most recognizable names in the league. If the front office can continue to retool the roster around the up-and-coming young guys while keeping both Curry and Green in place, it won't be long before Kerr's team is ready to contend again.

“Whether we win another championship or not,” Green said. “If (the Warriors) win the championship seven years from now, 10 years from now, that’s our championship. Period.”

However, everyone must remain patient and trust the developmental process because the Warriors are currently two or three years away from being where they want to be. Unless they find a trade to instantly improve the roster, but as we all know, those trades rarely present themselves.