Still tied to Steph Curry, can Draymond Green tweak his game to help revive Warriors?

Draymond Green‘s name surfaced in trade talks last season, as the Golden State Warriors chased Giannis Antetokounmpo. Green’s name surfaced again in the early days of free agency, when he declined his player option to help the Warriors chase LeBron James.

Now, as training camp kicks into gear this week in Hawaii – with Antetokounmpo in Miami and James in Philadelphia – Green’s name matters in a different context. Not as trade bait to lure one superstar, or contract maneuvering to bring in another, but as the longtime sidekick to a third.

Green will play this season on an expiring contract, again, which inevitably will stir speculation about his future. The Warriors positioned themselves for a potentially massive makeover next summer, when the contracts of Green ($27.7 million) and Jimmy Butler ($56.8 million) both expire.

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Draymond Green (23) defends against Victor Wembanyama (1) in the first half as the Golden State Warriors played the San Antonio Spurs at Chase Center in San Francisco, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle)

Last season, Green sat in the interview room at Chase Center and candidly shared his emotions upon realizing his decorated Warriors run might soon end. He offered no introspective encore Monday.

This time, on media day, Green dismissed the significance of starting another season on a one-year deal, assured of nothing beyond the 82-game marathon ahead.

“I am boots on the ground trying to enjoy every second, because you just don’t know how many (more) you have,” he said. “I have zero care for what happens with my contract or what happens after this year. I did that last year and I’m never doing it again. It’s a complete waste of my energy and time.”

Even so, how Green plays in his 15th season could shape what happens next. He’s a four-time NBA champion and defensive maestro, but he also turns 37 in March – and his game showed striking statistical decline last season.

Green committed 3.5 turnovers per 36 minutes, the second-highest single-season average of his career. He also posted a career-worst defensive rating of 113.6 (measuring points per 100 possessions), according to nba.com, and his offensive rating of 109.4 was his lowest since 2019-20.

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Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) and Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during an NBA game against the Utah Jazz at Chase Center in San Francisco, Saturday, Jan. 03, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)

Also worth noting: The offensive rating for Green and Curry as a two-man combination was 117.7, significantly higher than Green’s overall number.

His defense still sparkled at times – see the waning minutes of Golden State’s dramatic play-in win over the Los Angeles Clippers – but opponents often left Green undefended on the perimeter, daring him to shoot. And now head coach Steve Kerr curiously wants Green to spend more time on the perimeter.

That’s the plan, as part of a broader “reimagining” of how this team operates offensively. Kerr expects Green to launch 3-point shots when he’s open, expanding the strategic tweaks made last season. Green took a career-high 4.6 shots per game beyond the arc in 2025-26 – while shooting a ho-hum 32.6%.

The Warriors want to spread the court, a league-wide trend they embraced by adding floor-spacing centers – first Quinten Post (now in Memphis), then Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Green will continue to have license to let it fly beyond the arc.

“When he shoots open 3s, good things happen for us,” Kerr said, despite the increase in Green’s attempts during a disappointing 37-45 season. “There’s a flow to the game. What I think has changed the most in the NBA and for us these last couple of years is the spacing. Draymond’s first 10 years we played with basically two bigs, and kind of played off the elbows.

“We’re playing a more modern brand of basketball now, five-out. Draymond will find himself on the perimeter more, so that puts him in a slightly different role – shooting, crashing, spreading the floor for other people, dribble hand-off stuff. It’s an adjustment for everybody, not just Draymond.”

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Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) against the Detroit Pistons in the second quarter during an NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)

Asked if he’s kind of nervous about his shifting role, Green joked that he’s “shaking in my boots.” He suggested the changes will be subtle, and in some ways a welcome challenge as he and the Warriors seek to return to relevance in a stacked Western Conference.

“I feel like I’ve always kind of been on the perimeter,” Green said. “I know we’re going to run some different things offensively. Now that doesn’t mean we’re going to completely can who we’ve been, right? But for everything that’s different, you’ve just got to make the adjustment.”

Kerr largely has been open about the need for change since his team missed the playoffs for the second time in three years, then struck out on James and other potential big-name acquisitions. The Warriors need to function differently, play more efficiently and win games “on the margins,” as he put it – a polite way of acknowledging they didn’t add a ton of talent.

One byproduct of this revised thinking: Curry and Green no longer have permission to collectively commit five or six turnovers per game. Kerr gave them a pass of sorts in the past, because they handle the ball so frequently and because their distinctive, chaotic style fueled Golden State’s potent offense.

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Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) scores a three-pointer against the Detroit Pistons during an NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)

The Warriors averaged 15.7 turnovers last season, tied with Washington for third-worst in the league (ahead of only Brooklyn and Portland). The NBA’s six worst turnover teams all missed the playoffs. That’s not a coincidence.

“We need to figure it out,” Green said of Kerr removing the allowance for him and Curry, “so we will.”

Widen the scope, and Green sounded grateful Monday to simply play a central role in the success (or failure) of the Warriors. He compared it to golf, his new passion, and told the story of a friend suggesting he hit a lay-up shot during a recent round.

Green ignored the advice and tried to lift his ball over a tree. The ball smacked into the tree and fell to earth, Green said, but he had no regrets because he went for it. He plans to take the same approach on the basketball court, even if many tall trees stand in the way.