The Golden State Warriors, like so many other teams, have been at the forefront of trade rumors ahead of the 2026 NBA trade deadline, and while those have been mostly related to the uncertain future of Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green’s name has also been floated out.
While Golden State has made it clear they have no plans of trading either Green or Jimmy Butler in hopes of adding another top-tier star, that didn’t stop Rich Paul, who also made controversial comments about the Los Angeles Lakers, from talking about his client, Green.
Speaking on his podcast, Paul revealed that in a private conversation, he told Warriors’ rising star Moses Moody to push Green out.
“My conversation with Moses [Moody] was exactly this,” Paul said. “You should be looking to push Draymond out. Give them a reason to play you. We know you can shoot the three… Big, strong, going to defend everything. What’s the areas to get better?”
Now, those comments have since sparked a response from Green, on his own podcast, The Draymond Green Show, in which he addressed the idea of his own agent telling one of his teammates to push out the four-time champion.
Draymond Green Responds To Rich Paul’s Controversial Comments
While Paul has stirred up a bunch of controversy with his comments on the Lakers and now the Warriors, Green gave a surprising response in which he revealed his true feelings on his agent’s apparent diss at him.
“It’s no shocker to me that Rich said that…It’s not that Moses was going to become Draymond Green and push me out,” he explained. “What Rich is saying is, ‘You’ve become so valuable to a team that they can’t afford to keep Draymond, but you’re young, (so) they’ll push (Draymond) out.‘ For those that don’t understand it, it is what it is, but that’s a quick explanation for you on that statement.”
Green went on to say that he thinks the Warriors previously made an effort to try to push him out in the form of drafting big men to ‘take his spot,‘ yet none of them were able to finish the job.
“That’s what general managers are doing. They are drafting guys to take on the spots of the guys who making big money so they can move off them, reset the cap, that’s just the job,” he added. “So I don’t make anything of that, but I definitely understood it.”
In NBA terms, Green is no stranger to controversy or confrontation, and while he seems to have no ‘beef‘ with what his own agent said about him, it makes for yet another intriguing storyline surrounding the 2025-26 Warriors team.
Warriors And Jonathan Kuminga Trade Rumors
Though perhaps just another random issue to come out of the Bay Area during their tumultuous season, trade rumors surrounding the Warriors remain a larger topic of conversation, specifically as it relates to Kuminga.
Golden State has until the February 5th trade deadline to find a suitor for Kuminga, who, according to Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, has officially demanded a trade from the team after not playing in over a month.
They reported that the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks remain interested in what would likely be a deal for Keon Ellis and Malik Monk with the former, and potentially Daniel Gafford or PJ Washington with the latter.
However, Golden State has had its eyes set on Trey Murphy of the New Orleans Pelicans, but the asking price on him appears to be much higher than just the 23-year-old, and would likely have to include Moody, Buddy Hield, and at least one pick.
The Warriors have also been linked to a few other players and teams, but it’s hard to gauge both those teams’ interest in Kuminga, as well as the potential package they would be able to send back to Golden State.
Players like Moody, Hield, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Brandin Podziemski also have an uncertain future with the team as they’ve been rumored to be on the way out, but with how quiet general manager Mike Dunleavy and the rest of the front office has been on any potential interest on move outside of Kuminga, their final roster by the end of the trade deadline will be the only true indicator of the trades they want to make.
Green, Butler, and Curry have all expressed their thoughts on Kuminga’s situation, but for now, he remains one of the most likely players to be traded by the deadline.
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