NBA
After Initial Injury Concerns, Warriors Approved A Four-Team Trade To Acquire Gary Payton II From Portland
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated13 Feb 2023
The 2022-23 NBA trade deadline was hectic at the end of last week and there are still moves to be made. Keep an eye for the 3/1 deadline as players signed after that date are not eligible for the playoffs. Before last Thursday’s deadline ended, the Warriors were involved in a four-team trade re-acquire Gary Payton II back to Golden State. However, there were some injury concerns with his physical, but they’ve since gone forward with the trade.
Warriors team doctors were the ones who raised the concerns about his injured abdomen. Golden State is awaiting to see what the league office does about Portland’s failure to “provide relevant pre-agreement medical information”, according to NBA league sources.
If there are findings of some wrongdoings on Portland’s side it could cost them draft picks and fines. It could also result in the re-examination the the trade package that was approved between Golden State and Portland. California Sports Betting sites have the Warriors at (+1400) to win the Finals this season.
ESPN Sources: The four-team trade, held up by Golden State’s concern over Gary Payton II’s physical, is tracking to be completed today. Deal allows Payton II (Golden State) James Wiseman (Detroit), Saddiq Bey (Atlanta) and Kevin Knox (Portland) to join new teams.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 12, 2023
Warriors approve the four-team trade to re-acquire Gary Payton II
This trade did not only effect Golden State and Portland, but the Hawks and Pistons were involved as well. James Wiseman went to Detroit, Saddiq Bey to the Hawks, Kevin Knox to Portland, and finally Gary Payton II to the Warriors.
Golden State had until 9:30pm EST last night to make a decision about whether they wanted to go through with the trade or not. After Payton II arrived on Thursday, his physical to approve the trade revealed that his lingering abdomen injury would leave him sidelined for a significant part of the remainder of this season.
The Warriors only have 26 games left this season and chances are this trade might not have happened if they knew about his injury in the first place. Portland also failed to tell Golden State that Payton II had been taking the pain killing medication Toradol to help allow him to play this season.
Their intention was likely to bring Payton II on as some backcourt depth with Steph Curry out. However, some sketchiness from Portland in this trade allowed them to get away with informing the Warriors of Payton’s true medical situation.
