Portland Trail Blazers Announce Gary Payton II Underwent Surgery
With Damian Lillard sidelined last season due to an abdominal injury, the Portland Trail Blazers failed to be a threat in the Western Conference. Their streak of making the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons was snapped and they finished with just 27 wins, their fewest wins in a season since the 2005-06 season.
Upgrading their talent in the offseason, the Blazers signed guard Gary Payton II, who proved to be a key asset in the Golden State Warriors championship run this past year. Now in Portland, Payton will continue to be a key defensive player in this league, but he may not be able to participate in training camp due to an injury.
The Portland Trail Blazers announced on Friday that Payton underwent a procedure this offseason to address a core muscle injury and that he is expected to make a full recovery by the start of the regular season.
Payton’s surgery was in July and took place in Philadelphia, as noted in the team’s press release. Portland has stated that his rehab is progressing well and that the 29-year-old guard should be ready to play in the Blazers first game of the year on October 19 in Sacramento.
However, his status for training camp is very much up-in-the-air right now, especially since training camps are set to begin league-wide within the next two weeks.
Playing in 71 games with the Golden State Warriors a season ago, Payton averaged 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 61.6 percent from the floor and 35.8 percent from three-point range. Defensively, he was one of the best on-ball defenders in the league last season, which makes him a very valuable addition for the Trail Blazers.
Portland ranked dead-last in the league a season ago in defensive rating and they surrendered an average of 115.1 points per game to their opponents, ranking them 27th in the league in this category.
With Damian Lillard returning from injury, as well as Portland bringing back Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic, they should definitely be a more improved offensive team heading into the 2022-23 season. Defense is where the only question marks lie, which is why the addition of Gary Payton II is huge for the Trail Blazers.
His status over the next month will be a key storyline to keep watch on for this franchise.
