The Golden State Warriors have had no shortage of dramatic turns this season, but things took a sharp pivot in January when Jimmy Butler tore his ACL. That injury didn’t just sideline a six-time All-Star-it sent shockwaves through the Warriors’ front office and forced the team to reassess its trajectory with the playoffs looming and championship aspirations still very much alive.
With Stephen Curry still leading the charge and the window for contention narrowing, Golden State didn’t waste time exploring blockbuster moves. One of the biggest swings?
Entering the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. The Warriors were reportedly willing to part with significant assets, including Butler or even Draymond Green, to land the two-time MVP.
In the end, they didn’t win the Giannis derby-but they did make a splash, acquiring Kristaps Porzingis from the Atlanta Hawks in a high-profile deal aimed at keeping their title hopes alive.
But just days after the Feb. 5 trade deadline, the trade chatter took another twist-this time with some puzzling mixed signals coming from inside the organization.
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. attempted to shut down the idea that Draymond Green was ever seriously on the trade block.
“I’d walk that back,” Dunleavy said Friday. “His name was not in conversations other than the ones where teams called me to ask about him.
The idea that he stayed with the Warriors past the deadline was greatly exaggerated. It was never a possibility of him not being here or remotely close.
I’ve conveyed that to him.”
That would seem to settle things-except it doesn’t. Because Draymond Green himself just offered a very different version of events.
On his podcast Saturday, Green recounted a conversation he had with Dunleavy leading up to the deadline. And according to Green, the Warriors' front office was at least open to the idea of including him in a deal for Antetokounmpo.
“He said, ‘We've spoke about Giannis, we spoke about what picks we'd send them, we haven't really talked about the players that would go back yet... but you or Jimmy would have to be in a deal for Giannis,’” Green said. “He didn't rule it out.
He didn't say we're not putting you in the deal. So I took that as, ‘All right, that'll probably be me.’”
That’s not exactly a vague recollection. Green gave a pretty detailed account of his interaction with Dunleavy, and it paints a picture of a front office that, at the very least, was keeping all options on the table-even if that meant moving one of the franchise’s cornerstones.
So now the question becomes: Who’s telling the full story here?
Green’s version feels grounded in specifics. And given how transparent he’s been on his podcast in the past, it’s hard to imagine he’d invent a conversation like that just for clicks. That leaves Dunleavy’s comments looking a bit murky-perhaps an attempt to downplay internal discussions that never made it past the exploratory phase.
Regardless of the behind-the-scenes back-and-forth, here’s the bottom line: Giannis Antetokounmpo is not a Warrior. The massive trade never materialized. Instead, Golden State pivoted to Porzingis, hoping his size, shooting, and defensive presence can help fill the void left by Butler’s injury and keep the Warriors in the thick of the Western Conference fight.
But the lingering questions about Draymond Green’s future-and the mixed messages from the front office-won’t be going away anytime soon. For a franchise that’s long prided itself on continuity and culture, this trade season was a reminder that even the most established pieces can be part of the conversation when a generational talent like Giannis is in play.
The Warriors didn’t land the big fish. But they showed they were willing to fish in deep waters. And that alone says plenty about where this team sees itself-and what it’s willing to risk to stay on top.