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Draymond Green has broken off talks with the Golden State Warriors and is open to meeting with other suitors immediately, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo!
Even with this somewhat surprising development, the Warriors still hold all the cards. The worst that could happen, if they are, indeed, hell bent on keeping him, is that he signs a maximum offer sheet somewhere else and they are forced to match it.
That being said, why go through any of this drama if you already know your ultimate destination?
Regardless of how we arrived at this point, the Detroit Pistons should certainly pursue Green and offer him a max contract just to see what happens.
What's the worse the fallout could be? They miss out on fellow restricted free agent Tobias Harris, yes, but the Magic could just as easily have matched any offer as well. Also, Green is clearly the better player between the two.
There was hesitancy about chasing RFAs, but now that the top unrestricted options, Danny Green and DeMarre Carroll, are off the market, and even lower tier guys like Mike Dunleavy and Al Farouq Aminu have signed, it's not like the Pistons are going to miss out on anything great.
At this point Detroit's options are: 1. Try and sign Green even though it may be futile 2. Try and sign Harris even though it might be futile 3. Explore low-cost options in free agency such as Corey Brewer, Richard Jefferson or Luke Babbit. 4. Keep your money available and explore the small forward trade market, including Rudy Gay, Joe Johnson or Wilson Chandler.
In truth, even if they chased Green and came up empty, the Pistons could still probably grab a guy like Jefferson or Babbit, or make a trade down the road. At this point, there is really nothing left to lose.
Green is primarily a power forward, but he is still a very good player at power forward. He could solidify the small forward position while rookie Stanley Johnson develops and then slide down to power forward and move Ersan Ilyasova to the bench.
Will the Warriors match, making this entire possibility moot? Let's find out.