West Notes: Warriors, Draymond Green, Pelicans, Lakers

Warriors

If the Warriors weren’t receiving their championship rings on opening night, they just may have suspended forward Draymond Green for his practice altercation with guard Jordan Poole, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

“If this incident had landed in the middle of the regular season, there’d probably be a suspension. If the Warriors weren’t defending champions and were just playing an ordinary opening night, there might very well be a suspension,” Wojnarowski said on ESPN. “Golden State did not want to punish Draymond Green in a way where he’d miss opening night where he’d get his fourth ring with the Warriors.”

• Meanwhile, the “clock is ticking down” on the relationship between the Warriors and Green, per Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. Green is due for a contract extension but has said publicly — prior to the practice incident — that he doesn’t think one will come during the season.
• In case you missed it, Green is already being linked to the Lakers and fellow Rich Paul clients LeBron James and Anthony Davis. You can check out that full post here.

Pelicans

Power forward Zion Williamson said he struggled emotionally while sitting out last season with a foot injury, per Howard Beck of SI.com.

“I couldn’t play basketball. I could only do limited rehab things, Williamson said, via Beck. And then just seeing how the world reacted? It took a lot. It did a lot on my spirit.”

Williamson is back with the team, joining the likes of guard CJ McCollum and forward Brandon Ingram to give the Pelicans the look of a serious playoff contender. He laughed off the idea that he wants to leave the franchise, given their run to the postseason last year.

“People really out here think that I could witness something like that and then tell myself I don’t want to be (there)?” Williamson said, via Beck.

Lakers

Lakers coach Darvin Ham continues to search for a starting lineup, with the regular season right around the bend. But he indicated that’s what the preseason is for.

At any rate, the Lakers already know they are starting James, Davis and Russell Westbrook. It seems the other two spots, however, remain up for grabs.

“We get an opportunity to throw some stuff at the wall and see what sticks,” Ham said, via Dan Woike of the LA Times. “We already know our three main guys — Russ, Bron, AD. Those guys as well are getting used to playing with one another.

“That was very limited last year. So we look at it as an opportunity to just shake the rug and just shake things up and see what makes sense once it all starts to come together.”

• Davis admitted he would be willing to play some center this season. “I trust Coach’s decision,” Davis said, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I mean, I’m pretty sure he heard AD wants to play (power forward), so he knows where I stand. But at the end of the day, I want to win, so if that’s me playing the five, that’s what it’s got to be.“