CSN Bay Area

Draymond Green made no denials, emphatic or otherwise, to refute the report that he would be open to signing with the Pistons this summer. He couldn't deny it because it's true and he's too candid to roll out a lie.

That doesn't mean, however, that Green will be leaving the Warriors in July.

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The power forward, who turns 25 next month, will be a restricted free agent, emphasis on the word "restricted."

The Warriors have consistently said they plan to keep Green, just as they said last summer they had plans to let Klay Thompson walk. The difference is that Green's salary easily could rise 15-fold, whereas Thompson's new deal will multiply his current salary by slightly more than five.

Signing Green to a deal worth at least $12 million but as much as $14 million wouldn't represent a dive into the luxury tax. It represents the luxury tax dancing on the head of Warriors CEO Joe Lacob.

And, yes, Lacob is willing to flatten his dome and allow that.

Green, according to a Yahoo Sports report on Tuesday, is intrigued by the idea of signing with the Pistons. Of course he is. He's from Michigan, grew up Saginaw, attended college (Michigan State) in East Lansing, and makes no attempt to disguise his fondness for his home region.

But Green also is a businessman with the ability to analyze a situation and do what he thinks is best for him. When he signed a letter of intent to attend Michigan State, it wasn't out of civic loyalty and it wasn't to seek hometown comfort. It was because Kentucky, where he had made an oral commitment, no longer had Tubby Smith as its coach.

Green was ready to leave Michigan for Kentucky because even as a teenager, he had broad a sense of perspective. And because he longed to go to a place where he knew he could experience success, maybe even wild success.

Green will play his future just as he should. He'll get offers and he'll listen. He'll probably sign one.

But he won't walk away from the franchise that drafted him, from the teammates he enjoys and -- most of all -- from the championship-contender status that seems certain for the foreseeable future.

Ignore the noise. Green's not going anywhere. He's not eager to leave and, moreover, the Warriors have a full grasp of his value and wouldn't dare let him get away.