Why Warriors need to trade Draymond Green to get Giannis Antetokounmpo deal done with Bucks

Why Warriors need to trade Draymond Green to get Giannis Antetokounmpo deal done with Bucks originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . If the Golden State Warriors want Giannis Antetokounmpo, a trade cannot happen without Draymond Green.

This isn't just a player value thing. This is about salary cap matching that's required by NBA rules. The Milwaukee Bucks may move Giannis this summer, and if he's on the block, the Warriors seem likely to be interested.

And unless they want to trade Steph Curry or Jimmy Butler instead, it looks like Draymond will have to go. MORE: Darryn Peterson had a worse vertical jump than a Patriots 319-pound lineman How Draymond Green makes a Giannis trade possible The NBA's salary cap matching rules mean that Antetokounmpo's big salary can't go to the Warriors in a trade unless close-to-equal money moves the other way. In this case, the Warriors' three contracts big enough to help that cause are Curry, Butler and Green.

Getting Giannis would be done to have him play with Steph and Jimmy, so Draymond looks like the odd man out. "Because of the lack of sizable contracts beyond Curry and Jimmy Butler III, Draymond Green and his $27. 7 million salary would be required to make any Giannis deal work," ESPN's Bobby Marks wrote in a new article on Thursday.