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          Draymond Green on new CBA: 'It's not about me that I'm mad about'

          • Ethan Sherwood Strauss
          Dec 15, 2016, 10:00 PM

          OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green explained his tweets expressing displeasure with the the tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, saying "it's not about me."

          "I'm not [pleased], for several reasons," Green said at shootaround Thursday before a game against the New York Knicks. "It's not about me."

          In the aftermath of the CBA announcement Wednesday, Green tweeted:

          Green added context a day later, repeatedly insisting his tweets had nothing to do with how he's personally impacted by the new CBA.

          "It's not about me that I'm mad about," Green said. "When I look at these things I look at a guy like a Ian Clark or James Michael McAdoo, the other guys."

          Green said he "was one of those guys nobody would stand up for."

          "It's not about where my status is at as an All-Star. You'll be taken care of. As a superstar in this league, you'll be taken care of. So it's not more so about us, it's more so about the guys who aren't on that level,'' Green said.

          "When I look at my career, I didn't expect to be at this level I'm at now. I kind of identify more with those guys that have not made it to the level I've been fortunate enough to make it to. So when I think of contract negotiations in the CBA, I think of them and how can we help them. How can we help the guys that aren't making as much make more?''

          Kevin Durant had a similar take to Green's on the new deal.

          "I just more so look at it how it's going to affect the group as a whole, as far as all our players. From the top guys to the middle guys to the guys trying to fight their way up. It's about the whole group. It's not more so about myself or the big name guys. It's more about the whole group and how we can make this thing better for everybody."

          Based on a report from ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein, the new collective bargaining agreement will potentially net star Stephen Curry a bigger windfall when his contract is up at the end of the season. A new designated veteran player provision will allow Curry to earn 35 percent of his team's salary cap, up from 30 percent before.

          While the ability to offer Curry a contract in excess of $200 million could help Golden State secure its star's services, it potentially puts the squeeze on other parts of the roster. The Warriors will not have the same rights on Durant as Curry; designated player rules do not apply because Durant will have only played one season for them. As a result, Golden State could face being squeezed to keep its team together. Given commitments to Curry, Green and All-Star Klay Thompson, space will be limited.

          Green declined to comment on specific CBA provisions, but said about the lowest earning NBA players, "There could be different structure to have not as many minimum players.

          "Right now there's like a max and a minimum, a couple in-betweens. I think there can be different structures to help those minimum guys make more and not be a minimum player. But like I said, there's a lot of things that I'm still going over."

          Green stressed that the last thing he wants people to think is that he is somehow complaining or that anybody in the NBA is at the hardship level of many Americans or others facing dire circumstances around the world.

          "Nobody's going to run around complaining. I'd be an idiot to run around complaining about my pay. I'd look really stupid,'' he said. "Nobody's greedy. Nobody's feeling like 'Man, this is bull, I'm being slighted.' We're blessed to be in this situation.''

          The Associated Press contributed to this report.