A four-team trade that was in place before Thursday's deadline is in jeopardy due to a failed physical by Gary Payton II, according to a report from The Athletic. Payton was set to go back to the Golden State Warriors, where he won a championship last season, but the exam reportedly revealed a core muscle injury that could keep him out for up to three months.
Golden State has until 9:30 PM ET on Sunday to decide what they want to do about the situation, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. If the Warriors back out of the deal, there will be ripple effects for the three other teams involved. As reported, the trade would also send center James Wiseman to the Detroit Pistons, forward Saddiq Bey to the Atlanta Hawks and forward Kevin Knox to the Portland Trail Blazers along with five future second-round picks.
Payton did not make his season debut with Portland until Jan. 2 after undergoing abdominal surgery in the offseason. In December, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said that Payton was also trying to overcome mental roadblocks to get on the court.
"Medically we've and he's done everything that he can do," Billups said. "I always tell people a lot of times like nobody really understands like when you have an injury, you have surgery, there's not just the physical component that you have to get over, there's a mental component as well. You don't want to get hurt again, you don't want to re-injure yourself, and I think that that's kind of where it is with G is like, he's just trying to get over that."
In 15 games since returning to the Blazers, the defensive specialist has averaged 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 17 minutes per game. The Athletic reported that Payton had been continuing to play through pain in Portland, where the training staff had been giving him Toradol shots to get him on the court, unbeknownst to Golden State.
Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin categorically denied the report, saying they would not have played Payton if he weren't healthy.
"Player safety is super important to us, it's a super important thing around the league," Cronin said, via Bill Oram of The Oregonian. "We were playing him, he was playing. He had been cleared. We were confident that he was healthy when he was playing. We would not have brought him back if we thought he wasn't healthy or he was at risk, so you trust that we did the right thing, and you trust that our process was correct. And these reports, I think ... The clearance process was proper, so I'll have to rely on that."
Last season as a Warrior, Payton put up 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He was expected to contribute to a Warriors defense that has fallen from No. 2 in the NBA last season to No. 18 this season.
Wiseman was set to receive a fresh start in Detroit, while Bey would slot into a rotation spot with Atlanta. There are many other moving pieces that hinge on whether the Warriors elect to go through with the trade.
