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Don’t expect Draymond Green trade, Curry says end of Warriors era when they can’t win

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Michael Holley and Vincent Goodwill share their opening night takeaways from the Golden State Warriors' impressive showing on opening night against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Even as the Golden State Warriors collected their rings and raised a banner to open this NBA season, there has been a “is this the last dance” vibe hanging over the team. There already were questions about if the Warriors could afford to keep this roster together and if Draymond Green would be the odd man out before Green threw a right cross at Jordan Poole.

Stephen Curry tried to shut down that last dance speculation Tuesday night before his Warriors knocked off the Lakers. From an exclusive interview with Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News:

The conversations [about the team breaking apart] are part of what [fans/media] do. For Draymond, Klay, me, we’ve been through it and we’re used to it. We hope that the end is when we don’t win. That should be the end, when there’s a sense that we’re not a championship contending team. We know it’s not guaranteed to win a championship. When we know we’re a team that can legitimately win championships then you make certain decisions. We haven’t been in that situation.”

The end of this Warriors era will come, maybe as soon as next summer, or maybe a few years down the line (how Green and the team perform this season will have a bearing on that).

Just don’t expect the Warriors to decide to trade Green this season, they plan to chase another ring. If the evidence of their actions were not enough of an indication — Green was not suspended and was out there collecting his ring Tuesday night with his teammates — then listen to the reporting of ESPN’s Zach Lowe on the latest Lowe Post podcast.

“And that’s not to say are they going to trade Draymond? Everything I’ve heard is they are not trading Draymond. They’re just not going to happen. They’re trying to win the championship and will try to ride it out unless something drastic happens. Draymond is going to be on the team all season.”

It will be up to Kerr and the locker room leaders — Curry, Andre Iguodala — to help the team get past everything and focus on winning. With a veteran roster, this team should be able to focus on the task at hand, be professional, and deal with each other (so long as Green doesn’t do something to rip open the wound again, or create a new one).

Next summer, Warriors ownership and management will have some hard decisions to make. The music is going to stop at some point and Green could be the guy without a chair. But for now, the music plays on, and the Warriors are focused on winning a fifth title in this era.