Green: I and Curry might retire in two or three more years, believe coach Kerr will return next season.

On April 5 Beijing time, ESPN reported this week that Green is unlikely to seriously consider leaving the Warriors in this summer's free agent market. The more probable outcome is: either exercising his $27.7 million player option, or opting out and signing a new multi-year contract with the Warriors. Green told Warriors reporter Kawakami in an interview that he already has a plan in mind, but added that he, his agent Rich Paul, and the team still need to sit down and discuss the details.

“I briefly talked with Rich a few months ago,” Green said, “We haven’t discussed it much since, because we usually handle such matters during the offseason. Ideally—I should clarify, I haven’t discussed this with my agent team yet, Rich might scold me if he knows. But ideally, I think the best path is to opt out and then renew the contract. If it were up to me, this would be the best way.”

The scenario of Green opting out and signing a new contract could benefit both him and the Warriors. The veteran forward could secure a guaranteed contract with a total value higher than $27.7 million, along with multi-year security; while the Warriors could lower his salary for the 2026-27 season, creating more salary cap space for the upcoming season.

If the Warriors plan to pursue star players this summer, this additional salary flexibility would come into play, and Green is not surprised by that.

“Playing for a great team like ours with an excellent owner and excellent management, such possibilities always exist,” he told Kawakami, “I wouldn’t call it ‘chasing a big star.’ (Team owner) Joe Lacob always only wants to win. He will do whatever maximizes the chance of winning a championship. Whether it’s a star player or a role player, if it makes the team more competitive, he will act. Playing here, you must understand this.”

As always candid, Green revealed many interesting details in the interview. Here are other topics he discussed—

About how long he and Curry will continue playing

“When we talk about this, we count by ‘summers’: ‘How many more summers am I willing to dedicate to basketball?’ Because ultimately, that’s the essence of the question, right? How many more summers will I sacrifice, missing time with my kids doing their things? How many more summers will I fully invest in preparing for the NBA season? We don’t talk about ‘how many years I can still play, when you will retire, should we retire together’—we haven’t talked like that. We talk about: ‘How many more summers do you think you can push like this?’… Honestly, last time we discussed this, both of us felt there are probably about two or three summers left. We’ll see.”

He believes coach Kerr will return next season

“We don’t want to play for anyone else. We built this together. Curry’s influence, my influence, Klay’s influence, are as important as Kerr’s influence. We built this team from scratch together… Regarding him not extending his contract early, I think Kerr shares my view: I won’t do anything that burdens the team or restricts management. I believe Kerr holds the same stance. So when he didn’t renew, none of us thought much about it, because we know he has options and deserves to stay here. We all want to finish this journey with him.”

How he hopes his Warriors career will conclude

“I’ve seen too many players leave in ugly situations, I really don’t understand why it has to be like that. It doesn’t have to be. So I hope, whenever my career here ends, it concludes in a dignified, complete manner. No resentment, no embarrassment for either side. It should be like this: everyone is satisfied, we achieved great things together, then move forward separately.”