Reports broke on Friday that a move made at the trade deadline was in “serious jeopardy” after Gary Payton II, failed his physical with the Golden State Warriors after being traded from the Portland Trail Blazers in a four-team deal.
In one respect, that wasn’t too surprising. Payton has struggled to stay healthy in his first season with the Trail Blazers, playing in only 15 games. On the other hand, all 15 of those games have come since January 1. And from January 10 through February 8 — Payton played in 12 of the Blazers’ 14 games. So, while injuries definitely plagued his season, they hadn’t recently. So, what gives?
A report from Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic shed some light on that. And it doesn’t put the Blazers in a particularly good light.
“Payton, according to sources, had been playing through pain in Portland,” the report said. “Sources added that the Blazers training staff had been pushing him to gut through it, giving him Toradol shots. This had not been relayed to the Warriors during the negotiation process.”
As bad as the report makes Portland look, it’s also hard to imagine that the Blazers didn’t know this would come back to bite them. While they may not have informed the Warriors of Payton’s issues, they certainly knew that Golden State would give Payton a physical. And with that, issues like this tend to come to light.
