Warriors' Draymond Green on Lauri Markkanen trade rumors: 'That could have been trash' | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green lost his sleep when it became clear that the team would not be signing Lauri Markkanen from the Utah Jazz.

“That could have been trash, by the way,” he said of taking the 7'0 forward to Golden State, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. “Markkanen is coming here, we don't know.” We've never seen it before. So there was no thought of what could have been because we don’t know what that looks like.”

Green told The Athletic's Anthony Slater The Warriors front office approached him with the idea of ​​signing both Markkanen and Paul George this past offseason.

“The conversation was always about this possibility,” he said. “When you get those two guys, you make a big splash. But the Clippers weren't really ready to play along. Then Danny Ainge was just Danny Ainge.”

Green said the Los Angeles Clippers weren't particularly interested in a sign-and-trade, which left the Warriors out of the George sweepstakes. This paved the way for him to sign directly with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Markkanen then signed a contract extension with the Jazz, and the timing of the deal means the Jazz won't be able to trade him until next summer at the earliest.

Particularly after George went to the Sixers, the argument against a Markkanen trade from Golden State's perspective was that it likely wouldn't raise the team's cap high enough to justify the overall cost. The 27-year-old simply hasn't proven that he's such a star yet.

However, some sort of consolidation trade seems inevitable for the Warriors.

Even if you have 12 players good enough to contribute, the 12-man rotations that head coach Steve Kerr has experimented with are not sustainable for a team with playoff aspirations. It could be beneficial to use some of that depth on a decorated veteran down the road.

For now, Green and his teammates will get a chance to show how good the roster is as it stands before general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. thinks about anything too radical.