Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II shoots against the Boston Celtics during the first half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals in San Francisco on June 13, 2022.
Jed Jacobsohn/APLATEST Feb. 12, 6:43 p.m.: The Warriors officially went through with the four-way trade involving Gary Payton II, the Associated Press reported.
Feb. 12, 3:10 p.m. The Warriors have decided to go through with their four-way trade despite Payton not passing his physical, Shams Charania of the Athletic reported on Twitter.
Around the same time, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that although the details were still "getting ironed out" with the NBA, the Warriors were optimistic the deal would go through before the 6:30 p.m. deadline.
Feb. 12, 12:08 p.m. With just hours until the deadline to finalize the deal, the hand-wringing around the Warriors’ trade for Gary Payton II is taking on a life of its own.
On Thursday, the Warriors announced they were part of a four-team trade that would bring back Payton, a 30-year-old who won an NBA title with the Warriors last season. But any excitement for a reunion was short-lived, as reports of possible long-term injury problems quickly emerged.
Payton has struggled with injuries in his brief stint with the Trail Blazers. On Friday, the Athletic reported that Payton failed his physical. The Warriors reportedly alleged that they were not told Payton was administered the anti-inflammatory Toradol and was “playing through pain in Portland.” ESPN reported Sunday morning that a Warriors doctor believes Payton could be out for a “significant” portion of the remainder of the season.
Payton’s agent reportedly told Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes that Payton “never took Toradol shots to be available for games during his time in Portland.”
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On Sunday morning, reporter Shams Charania of the Athletic reported that the Warriors have filed a complaint with the league office that the Trail Blazers withheld information about the severity of Payton’s core muscle injury. If a team is found to have intentionally withheld information, it could be punished by the league with a fine or loss of draft picks.
At a press conference Friday, Portland general manager Joe Cronin defended the team’s information disclosure.
“We were confident that he was healthy when he was playing,” Cronin said. “We would not have brought him back if we thought he wasn’t healthy or if he was at risk. So you trust that we did the right thing and trust that our process was correct.”
The Warriors reportedly have until 6:30 p.m. Sunday to rescind the trade. The trade is supposed to send Payton to the Warriors, James Wiseman to Detroit, Saddiq Bey to Atlanta and Kevin Knox II to Portland.