Draymond Green to the Cavaliers? Proposed Trade Would Cause Cleveland Riots

Bill Simmons has been hitting the eggnog early this year. Either he's not paying attention or he just wants to see other Eastern Conference teams fall apart to make life easier on his Boston Celtics.

In a recent podcast, Simmons floated the Cleveland Cavaliers as a trade destination for the currently suspended Draymond Green, in a deal that would drive Cavs fans crazy.

Cavaliers Rumors: Draymond Green Trade?

That's the deal. A simple 1-for-1 swap of Draymond Green for Jarrett Allen.

It's easy to see why the Warriors would do this:

They move a player who's bringing them negative media attention and who doesn't seem to be particularly popular in the locker room. They lose a guy who's admittedly still a terrific versatile defender, but they replace him with a 25-year-old center who is under contract through 2026 who has blossomed into a strong defender in his own right, and whose game is still developing.

But what incentive do the Cavaliers have?

The 33-year-old Green is also under contract through 2026, with a player option for the 2026-27 seaosn.

He's owned more than Allen in each of these seasons, and that looming player option is nearly a guaranteed disaster. He'll be 36 years old and set to make $27 million.

At best you're hoping he maintains the same level of play for a couple seasons, but there's also the inevitability that his game will start to deteriorate at some point. He already seems to be on the wrong side of his prime, and players' games tend to fall off a cliff eventually rather than steadily and gracefully declining.

So for a team that, as much as it pains me to say it, probably won't contend this year due to the injuries to Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, we'd get a win-now piece who makes it harder to build a roster in the future with a contract we don't love. We also get a guy who may be a locker room problem, and who will bring negative media attention.

And this is coming from an admitted Draymond Green apologist. His flagrant fouls and antics are certainly inexcusable, but I think he's genuinely underrated. People hate him so they discredit how good his game is. I think he's a great fit on many championship contenders. In a vacuum, he's a guy I'd want on my team.

I know that's not a popular opinion, and it's pretty telling that even though that's the camp I'm in, this deal still seems terrible to me.

It's a good thing nobody in an NBA front office would take Simmons seriously, because Cavs fans may be rioting in the streets if they pulled off this deal.

The Cavs are a whopping 45-to-1 to win the title this year thanks to the inconsistent start to the season and crushing injury woes, and now is not the time to make a win-now move that hurts our future. Adding Green might slightly improve those NBA Championship odds, but it's hard to imagine they'd move much.

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