The Portland Trail Blazers neglect in informing the Golden State Warriors about Gary Payton II’s health status could void the trade.
A massive four-team trade is at risk of getting voided according to recent reports. The trade that centered on Gary Payton II going back to the Golden State Warriors is possibly going to be voided after Payton failed a physical with Golden State.
A sourced report from Shams Charania and Anthony Slater suggests that Payton has been playing through pain in Portland (subscription required), and the training staff had been pushing him to play through it, according to the report. Trail Blazers General Manager, Joe Cronin, denied that Payton was playing through an injury.
Per the report, the Warriors were completely caught off-guard by the results of Payton’s injury and were not informed of any current injury to Payton.
When will Gary Payton II trade situation conclude?
According to the report from The Athletic, the Warriors have until today, Saturday to make a decision on if they still want to go through with the deal.
It’s a massive deal that, though its focus now hinges on Payton, also included James Wiseman going out to Detroit and Saddiq Bey moving to Atlanta.
According to the report, the various parties have been discussing amendments to the trade. The Warriors would need to give the physical a “technical” pass if they choose to move forward with the deal as it was constructed previously.
The fact that there are four teams involved complicates things, per The Athletic, and it’s impossible for the deal to bring in new teams to help facilitate a slightly changed deal because the NBA’s trade deadline has passed.
Choosing to pass Payton on the physical could prove problematic for Golden State because Payton had a delayed recovery coming back from abdominal surgery this offseason and has only appeared in 15 games.
Payton played for Golden State for the last two years before signing with Portland in the offseason.
Payton is a tremendous defensive addition in the backcourt or on the wing, boasting a +4.6 defensive RAPTOR rating per FiveThirtyEight in 2020-21 with the Warriors. Fewer than 10 non-frontcourt players have achieved that going back the last three seasons. He’s a great theoretical addition.
For Golden State, it could be an incredibly frustrating development. If the Payton trade is, in fact, voided, not only does it represent a miss on a possible strong addition for a postseason push, but it also represents a blockade to making other moves to upgrade had the team had all the information around Payton’s health. With the deadline passed, the only way teams can add talent is via free agency.