Draymond Green is upset about the NBA’s new CBA agreement

Draymond Green sent out some tweets presumably expressing disappointment with the new collective bargaining agreement that the NBA and the National Basketball Player’s Association agreed to on Wednesday. Here they are, which seem way too obvious to be a coincidence.

At Warriors practice on Thursday, Green explained his concerns with the new collective bargaining agreement.

Here’s Green’s entire answer transcribed.

“I’m not, for several reasons. And it’s not about me. I am by no means mad about my salary. I’m blessed. I get to play the game I love for a living. You only get a certain amount of money doing it, so to sit here and act like I’m mad at what I make is completely off the cuff and it’s not about me that I’m mad about. When I look at these things, I look at a guy like a Ian Clark, or a James Michael McAdoo, or the other guys. And yeah, we’re all fortunate — at the minimum, you’re making $600,000 to play basketball, and I’m not going to ask like, ‘Oh, I’m pissed off that anyone’s making that because that’s still less than 2 percent of America making that.’ We’re all blessed. But when you look at the circumstance of how much money is involved in this league, in terms of that, I’m upset. And like I said, it’s not about my status where I’m at as an All-Star. You’ll be taken care of as a superstar in this league. It’s not moreso about that, it’s moreso about the guys who aren’t on that level. When you look at my career, I didn’t expect to be at this level right now, so I kind identify with those guys who haven’t made it to that level that I’ve been fortunate enough to make it to. When I think of contract negotiations and CBA negotiations, I think of them, and how we can help them, how can we help the guys who aren’t making as much make more. I left money on the table, so it’s not a matter of me making money.

Minimum salaries did rise with this new CBA by nearly 50 percent, but the base salary for a new NBA player is still under $1 million. As a second round draft pick, Green knows that well — he earned $850,000 his first season, and only marginally more the next two years.

Green had more to say in the practice session, but emphasized helping the minimum players make more, rather than arguing that the BRI (basketball related income) split — which remains at about 50-50 with this CBA — needed to change.

Not every NBA player necessarily agreed with him, though. Jared Dudley tweeted this last night in response to one of Green’s tweets, although it was before the full context of Green’s quotes at practice.

Over the weekend, Carmelo Anthony said he was “skeptical” that the two sides would come to terms on a new deal before the Dec. 15 opt-out date when a new deal needed to be agreed upon. Fortunately, the agreement on Wednesday means the CBA is headed for a resolution.