The Golden State Warriors have filed a lawsuit against the Portland Trail Blazers over the proposed trade that would send Gary Payton II to the Bay Area, by The Athletic’s Shams Charania. It was reported Saturday night that Payton’s physical examination after the trade revealed a core muscle injury which could keep him away for up to three months.
The league is launching an investigation into the matter, and if the Trail Blazers are found to have misled the Warriors regarding Payton’s health, they could face a fine and/or loss of draft picks. , by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The initial four-team trade, which was in place before the Feb. 9 trade deadline, also included sending James Wiseman to Detroit, Saddiq Bey to Atlanta and Kevin Knox heading to the Trail Blazers with five future second-round pick. . Wojnarowski reports the deal is expected to close on Sunday as the Warriors work with the league to find a solution to continue the trade while seeking ways to “preserve their rights of recourse over how Payton’s medical information was shared.” Although the deal is expected to close, Wojnarowski reports that there are still work to do to get him over the finish line, but that there is “optimism” that he will be complete.
Payton, who won a championship with the Warriors last season, didn’t make his Portland debut until Jan. 2 after undergoing abdominal surgery in the offseason. In December, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said Payton was also trying to overcome mental hurdles to get on the court.
“Medically we have and he did everything he could do,” Billups said at the time. “I always tell people a lot of times that no one really understands, like when you have an injury, you have surgery, it’s not just the physical component that you have to overcome, there’s also a mental component. .You don’t want to get hurt again, you don’t want to get hurt again, and I think that’s kind of where it is with G, he’s just trying to get over that.”
In 15 games since returning to the Blazers, the defensive specialist has averaged 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 17 minutes per game. The Athletic reported that Payton continued to play despite the pain in Portland, where the coaching staff punched him with Toradol to get him on the court, unbeknownst to Golden State.
SATURDAY, Chris Haynes reported as Payton’s agent Aaron Goodwin said, “despite what is being reported, my client never took pictures of Toradol to be available for games while in Portland.” Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin also flatly denied the report, saying they wouldn’t have played Payton if he wasn’t healthy.
“Player safety is super important to us, it’s a super important thing in the league,” Cronin said, via Bill Oram of The Oregonian. “We were playing him, he was playing. He had been cleared. We were confident he was healthy when he was playing. We wouldn’t have brought him back if we thought he wasn’t healthy or that he was at risk, so you trust that we did the right thing, and you trust that our process was correct.And those reports, I think… The clearance process was correct, so I’m going to have to rely on that.
Last season as a Warrior, Payton had 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He is expected to contribute to a Warriors defense that has gone from No. 2 in the NBA last season to No. 18 this season.
Wiseman is expected to get a fresh start in Detroit, while Bey will take up a rotational spot with Atlanta. Although the deal hit an initial hurdle, it looks like all the teams involved will get what they wanted from this trade.