Payton Return To Warriors On Hold; Pistons, Hawks And Blazers Affected

A complicated deal involving four NBA teams, draft picks and several players is reportedly in jeopardy after a failed physical by Gary Payton II with Golden State.

According to ESPN, Thursday’s NBA trade involving the Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and the Portland Trail Blazers has been jeopardized by significant concerns over the physical exam of the 30-year-old guard.

The movement of players involved in the deal was reportedly put on hold. As part of the trade deal, Payton was set to return to the Warriors, where he won a championship last season.

The Warriors were sending center James Wiseman to the Pistons for Saddiq Bey and Kevin Knox. The Hawks were set to send five second-round picks to the Warriors for Bey, and then the Warriors were set to send Knox and those second-round picks to Portland for Payton, according to ESPN.

Concerns related to the abdominal surgery that Payton had over the summer are reportedly holding up the deal. It was the same issue that kept the 6-foot-2 guard out of action with the Blazers for 35 games this 2022-23 season. He first returned to action last month.

The Warriors have until Saturday to make their decision on the trade deal, the outlet said. The terms of the deal can no longer be amended as the trade deadline officially passed Thursday.

Regardless of this holdup, Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said at a Friday news conference that Payton was cleared to play and remained confident that the veteran guard was healthy.

“Player safety is super important to us it’s a super important thing around the league,” Cronin stated. “We were playing him, he was playing, and he had been cleared and 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 if he was at risk. So you trust that we did the right thing and trust that our process was correct.”

It was The Athletic that first reported the multiplayer NBA trade being in jeopardy.

Payton has so far played in 15 games this season, averaging 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 17 minutes of action, according to Baskeball-Reference.

During two seasons with the Warriors, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton recorded averages of 6.5 points and 3.2 rebounds in 15.9 minutes of action. Beyond the numbers, Payton is best known to be a defender.

Aside from the Blazers and the Warriors, Payton also had stints with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Wizards.