Draymond Green’s honest “trash” take on the failed trade for Lauri Markkanen

Draymond Green is pleased with how things are going for the Golden State Warriors right now.

Lauri Markkanen may have been celebrating with Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors as they beat the Utah Jazz by 41 points on the road at the Delta Center. If Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. had been able to trade with Utah, this possibility might have come true.

During the off-season, Dunleavy looked into trades with the Utah Jazz for Lauri Markkanen and the Los Angeles Clippers for Paul George to help Stephen Curry and Draymond Green win another title. The Warriors would have liked to have both, but it was hard to get either because both Utah and Los Angeles wanted a good return on their assets.

Draymond Green does not like the idea of trading Lauri Markkanen.

Rob Gray-Imagn Images

When Green talked to ESPN earlier this month, he said, “That could have been trash.” “We don’t know if Markkanen will come here.” We’ve never seen it. We don’t know what that would have looked like, so we didn’t think about what might have been.

For a single star, Dunleavy wasn’t willing to give up the Warriors’ young prospects and important picks unless it was a game-changing player who could put Golden State on the verge of winning its fifth title in 11 years.

In trade talks for Markkanen, the Jazz allegedly wanted to get young guard Brandon Podziemski from the Warriors. This was the demand that made Golden State back out of the talks.

George decided to get out of his contract and signed a max deal with the Philadelphia 76ers worth $212 million over four years. Markkanen, meanwhile, agreed to a new, five-year deal worth $238 million with the Jazz. He signed on the day that made it impossible for the Jazz to sell him this season, which was a smart move.

With George going to the Sixers, Golden State became less interested in trading Markkanen. It seemed like Markkanen wouldn’t make the Warriors better enough to justify the high price tag. He is still not fully established as a celebrity at age 27.

The 12-man rotation for the Warriors

The Warriors have a good 2-1 record so far this season, and head coach Steve Kerr has been trying out a wide 12-man rotation.

Even though it gives the team some freedom, a rotation with so many players would probably not work for a team that wants to go far in the playoffs. As the season goes on, Golden State’s team might be stronger if they trade some of their reserves for an experienced veteran.

Green and his friends have a chance to show how strong the current team is before general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. thinks about making any big changes.

The Warriors will have to deal with that lack of depth when they play the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET, TNT) without Curry (left ankle peroneal strain) and De’Anthony Melton (back), who will both be out for at least the next two games.

In the first three games, Buddy Hield has shown that he can fill in for Klay Thompson on the wings. The Warriors like how versatile Melton is and how smart Anderson is on the court. They think that these experienced players can work well with young players like Jonathan Kuminga, Podziemski, and Moses Moody, and that their skills will match those of Curry, Green, and Andrew Wiggins.

Nathan Yasis works as an associate editor for ClutchPoints and writes about the NBA.