Lakers News: ESPN's Greatest Talking Head Predicts Draymond Green Will Join Lakers

Could the four-time champ join California's winningest NBA franchise?

Would you want Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green on your franchise, dear Lakers fans? Because there's increasing chatter that suggests it could be what the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year wants to happen.

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith recently told fellow commentator (and former 2008 championship-winning Celtics starting center) Kendrick Perkins today that he believes Green's preferred destination is alongside his buddy LeBron James and star big man Anthony Davis in the purple and gold.

Green, of course, is currently taking a leave of absence from the Warriors, after footage leaked of him sucker-punching teammate Jordan Poole during a team scrimmage last week.

“Golden State's got to re-sign two people. Three people [are] looking to get re-signed. The three people looking to get re-signed [are] Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and Draymond Green. I can tell you right now, Wiggins and Poole are a priority. I can tell you right now that Draymond Green is expecting this to be his last year in Golden State. Now, he [wants to] be a Laker. He ain’t gonna tell anybody that, but don’t think I don’t know. He’d prefer to be a Laker if he gotta leave Golden State.”

So if one is to believe Stephen A.'s timeline, we're looking at Draymond departing the Warriors in unrestricted free agency circa the 2023 offseason. L.A. will have a projected $34-$35 million available to spend, assuming the team doesn't trade for long-term contracts until then.

Though the 32-year-old All-Star power forward's shooting has fallen off in recent seasons, he remains a terrific passer and defender, as he showed during his current team's run to the 2022 title. He possesses a $27.5 million player option for the 2023-24 season, though it seems as if he is hoping to either agree to an extension with the Warriors or test the free agency waters for one last big payday.

Another route through which Los Angeles could acquire Green is a trade. Bill Simmons of The Ringer pitched a three-team deal during a recent episode of The Lowe Post, podcast of ESPN scribe Zach Lowe.

 Simmons proposed a three-team swap, which would send the $47.1 million expiring salary of Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook, along with the team's two highly-valued first-round draft picks, to the Indiana Pacers, who in turn would send out 3-and-D big man Myles Turner to the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors would flip Green to the Lakers as the final piece of the puzzle. Granted, the Turner ($18 million) and Green contracts are fairly aligned, while Westbrook's is significantly higher. To make the money work, an ESPN Trade Machine-certified deal that sends, say, Green and 2020 No. 2 lottery pick James Wiseman to L.A., Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to Golden State, and the Westbrook contract and picks to Indiana, could work out. L.A. would probably then look to offload the Wiseman deal ($9.6 million, not small peanuts) for another wing shooter in a separate transaction.

The Pacers, meanwhile, would probably decide to buy out the 2017 MVP from his current deal, so he could then sign on with a title contender as a role player. Indiana should want to bottom out for projected 2023 top draft prospects Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson, both of whom could be generational talents, and Westbrook with total control of the offense could will the team to some unnecessary victories that could dilute its lottery odds.