West Notes: Warriors, Draymond Green, Suns, Lakers

Warriors

While the Warriors apparently remain upset over forward Draymond Green punching guard Jordan Poole during practice, they are not looking to trade him this season, per Zach Lowe of ESPN.

“If anything, I think that may be underplaying the level of iciness and tension that they’re navigating right now,” Lowe said, via RealGM. “And that’s not to say ‘Are they going to trade Draymond?’ Everything I’ve heard is they are not trading Draymond. They’re just not going to happen. They’re trying to win the championship and will try to ride it out unless something drastic happens. Draymond is going to be on the team all season.”

Suns

Center Deandre Ayton offered advice to small forward Cam Johnson, who did not receive a rookie-scale contract extension ahead of Monday’s deadline.

“You control what you can control,” Ayton said, via Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “Everybody knows that. Cam is a smart dude. What he does best is focus on him. He’s a guy who trusts his team. I’m sure he’s in good hands. Cam is a strong dude. He loves being in the Valley.”

Suns coach Monty Williams also offered encouraging words.

“When he didn’t come to an agreement, I didn’t see it as a bad thing,” Williams said, via Rankin. “I just thought to myself, well, I hope you play yourself into the money you want. That’s the way I look at it and I think he’s more than capable of doing that.”

Lakers

Power forward Anthony Davis‘ shooting percentage declined over the past two seasons, but coach Darvin Ham wants him to stay aggressive.

“His ability to draw attention. His ability to defend the rim. His ability to get to the free throw line. We need him to do that night in and night out, and it’s just simple as that,” Ham said, via Paul Terrazzano Jr. of TalkBasket. “I’ve been saying it since the day I took this job all summer like, ‘He’s the key to everything. Him being healthy and him performing.’ He’s only gonna get better as he gets deeper and deeper into a rhythm.”

• In case you missed it, LeBron James said the Lakers’ roster doesn’t have enough perimeter shooters. You can read the full post here.
• Also, as we relayed earlier, the Lakers very well could re-examine trading Russell Westbrook. We have more on that here.