Warriors to re-evaluate Payton in 1 month after opting to complete trade
The Golden State Warriors will re-evaluate Gary Payton II's abdominal injury in approximately one month, general manager Bob Myers said Monday, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN.
Myers added that the team hopes to have the guard back healthy before the postseason.
Payton officially rejoined Golden State on Sunday after the Warriors elected to proceed with the four-team trade involving his former club, the Portland Trail Blazers, as well as the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks. The deal was delayed for days after the 30-year-old failed his physical with Golden State.
The Warriors reportedly lodged a complaint with the league office, arguing the Trail Blazers withheld information about Payton's injury, which required offseason surgery and delayed his season debut until Jan. 2. The NBA has since opened an investigation.
When asked if Payton's lengthy absence this season factored into trade discussions, Myers suggested he didn't believe the guard's injury was a concern.
"I think in these situations, we looked at the fact that he started the night before against our team," he said, courtesy of The Athletic's Anthony Slater. "You could look at it any way you wanted to ... You could say 'Well, (the) player would be better in our system. We would use him differently. We would play him differently.' I don't get into the mental space of a player. We traded for (Andrew) Wiggins - we watched him and said, 'Well, maybe he can be better for us.'
"So, I didn't really factor in the thought that he'd be out as long as he will be ... But we had a lot of conversations, but I'm not going to get into the specifics of what the conversations were with the other team."
The Warriors reportedly worked with the NBA to complete the deal while maintaining the possibility of taking action against Portland.
Myers refused to specify whether Golden State believes the Trail Blazers purposely chose not to disclose information about Payton's injury, but he confirmed the league is investigating while the Warriors await a ruling.
"What do I want? Whatever the NBA says is fair," Myers said. "Whatever that is. Just want a fair result."