Mutual Lakers–Draymond Green interest if Giannis deal happens

Feb 4, 2026 5:40 PM

Steph Curry Draymond Green — Photo: Peter Baba

Draymond Green and the Los Angeles Lakers would share mutual interest if Green is ultimately moved by the Golden State Warriors as part of a package for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

With Jimmy Butler sidelined by a torn ACL and reportedly excluded from Golden State’s proposals, Green has emerged as the primary salary piece in potential trade scenarios.

Because Milwaukee has little interest in keeping the power forward, any deal would likely require routing him to a third team.

The Warriors have kept Green informed throughout the process, and he has openly acknowledged that his long run with the franchise could come to an end either by the trade deadline or during the offseason.

Green has one year remaining on his contract for the 2026-27 season at $27.7 million, the final year of the four-year, $100 million deal he signed in the summer of 2023.

“I think it’s probably still, I would say, unlikely, but the Warriors feel it’s enough of a situation that they came to him and let him know,” Brian Windhorst said Wednesday on Get Up. “And I would call this sort of a conscious uncoupling to use modern verbiage. And Draymond is understanding of it. They don’t want to surprise him.

“He is in the offer to the Milwaukee Bucks that is out on the table. And Draymond has taken action on himself. If he were traded, his plan would not be to remain in Milwaukee. He would want to be moved on. A team that would be possible if he were traded. I can’t emphasize the number of ‘ifs’ I’ve said enough before I say this, but the Los Angeles Lakers would be a team he would have interest in and they would have interest in him. But that would require the Bucks to take action on Giannis.”

Windhorst added that the situation has reached a meaningful turning point.

“What I think is interesting is they have now crossed the Rubicon here with Draymond Green,” he said. “If he is not traded by tomorrow, it would not surprise me if these talks were revisited in the summer in the last year of his contract, whether it would be in another Giannis offer or somewhere else. And I think that’s where we’re getting to in this story.”