Golden State Warriors GM Bob Myers Gives Update On Gary Payton II
Following the trade deadline, the big news pertaining to the Golden State Warriors was whether or not their four-team trade involving Gary Payton II would actually go through.
After a failed physical examination as a result of a core muscle injury that he had surgery on in the offseason, this trade was in jeopardy of not happening and the Warriors were close to rescinding it with the Portland Trail Blazers, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons.
Ultimately, the Warriors allowed the trade to become finalized on Sunday evening and on Monday, Warriors’ general manager Bob Myers talked about Payton’s injury and how long he will be sidelined for.
“It was our determination he's not ready to play right now,” Myers told reporters on Monday. “But when we hopefully do get him back at some point—the goal would be pre-playoffs. That would be the hope, but until we get a sense of how the rehab process is going, I can't really speculate.”
Payton, who signed a three-year, $26.1 million deal with Portland in the offseason, had offseason core muscle surgery in September that the Trail Blazers deemed he would be able to return from before the start of the regular season.
He did not make his season debut with Portland until January 2.
According to a report from The Athletic, Payton had been playing through pain in Portland and the Blazers training staff had been pushing him to gut through it, giving him Toradol for his pain. The Trail Blazers have since refuted this claim and Payton’s agent told TNT/Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes that his client never took Toradol shots in order to be available for games.
In the four-team trade to acquire Gary Payton II from Portland, the Warriors traded James Wiseman to the Detroit Pistons, as well as two future second-round picks to the Trail Blazers. The Warriors also acquired two second-round picks in 2026 and 2028 from Atlanta in this trade.
Set to be re-evaluated in a month, Payton’s status for the rest of the season is very much up-in-the-air at this point. It does not appear as if he will undergo another surgery at this time, but the Warriors only have 26 games left in the season and should a month go by until Payton is re-evaluated, they will only have 14 regular season games remaining from March 13 until the end of the season.
The Warriors as a team have not given any further updates on Gary Payton II and his timetable for a potential return.
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