Warriors GM Dunleavy Hoping To Retain Green, Porzingis

Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy is hopeful of retaining both Draymond Green and Kristaps Porzingis, according to Nick Friedell of The Athletic.

Green holds a $27,678,571 option on his contract for next season, while Porzingis will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the month.

“I’ve had conversations with kind of all of our free agents,” Dunleavy said. “Their representatives. I think we’re in a good place with all of them … as far as Draymond and KP, Draymond has the player option, but we’re in communication with his group. Then same thing with KP. Both guys, I think, we value, we want here, and we see them as a kind of (a) piece of the puzzle next season.”

Green, who has stated he wants to return, could help out the front office by declining the option and signing an extension at a lower number. That would give the Warriors more breathing room to stay out of the luxury tax.

Golden State is also awaiting two other player options that would impact its bottom line — Al Horford ($5,969,250) and De’Anthony Melton ($3,451,779).

Here’s more from Dunleavy’s press conference:

• Steve Kerr decided shortly after the season to remain as head coach. However, his staff is still in flux — Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse left the organization in hopes of landing head coaching jobs. Dunleavy says the front office is still mulling its options. “We’re still working through that,” Dunleavy said. “Obviously, getting the main thing done with Steve was huge. With Terry and Jerry leaving, there obviously will be some changes, so we’re working through that. But nothing imminent. Once there is, we’ll let you guys know.”
• The GM seems intent on keeping the 11th overall pick in the draft, rather than using it in a trade. “(The) job right now is to make this team better. So if it means doing older, then we’ll do it, but that’s pretty unlikely,” he said. “There’s only so many guys I feel like we could bring in that are older. We’ve got some guys on the back end of it already, and to add to that, there would definitely be some risk. Maybe there’s a situation we do that and go for it — we obviously would prefer to get younger.”
• While the Thunder and Spurs appear set up for long-term success in the Western Conference, Dunleavy won’t make moves specifically with those teams in mind. “We’ve had, what, eight different champions in eight years. Is that right? I’d say the big-picture thing is it’s as wide open as it’s ever been,”  he said. “We can’t make any assumptions that this team is going to do it for the next 10 years. They’re going to be here. You know, injuries, salary cap issues, all those things. I think we’ve got to be careful of that. More than anything, it teaches you just to focus in on yourself and what you can do to be better. Don’t worry about we have to beat this team or we’ve got to be better than this at this position. I think it just reinforces we need to be better and let’s focus on ourselves.”
• The Warriors also have a late second-round pick at No. 54. Dunleavy will go with the best available player, according to Kevin Topley of NBCSportsBayArea.com. “I think the approach on the second round for us has been not to overthink it, you’re looking for a guy that can just make it,” he said. “You don’t worry about position, you don’t worry about size, you don’t worry about age, you’re picking, for example, late 50s, it’s hard to make it to the NBA that far back in the draft.”