Warriors' Gary Payton II Out 'A Long Time' With Elbow Injury, Steve Kerr Says
The Golden State Warriors aren't expecting guard Gary Payton II to return to the court in the near future.
"He's going to be out for a long time," head coach Steve Kerr told reporters. "He's crushed. ... We all feel terrible for Gary."
Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported Payton suffered a fractured left elbow when Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks fouled him hard in transition during Game 2 of their second-round playoff series. Brooks was given a flagrant-2 foul and ejected from the contest.
It was immediately apparent the injury may be a serious one, as Payton grabbed his elbow and remained on the ground in obvious pain. He made one of two free throws following the foul and then left for the remainder of the contest.
The timing was particularly unfortunate for the 29-year-old, who started the first two games of the series and figured to be a key part of Golden State's defensive game plan against Ja Morant and the rest of the Grizzlies guards.
Kerr told reporters after the game that Brooks "broke the code" about not putting one's fellow players in danger.
"I don't know if it was intentional, but it was dirty," Kerr said. "And playoff basketball is supposed to be physical, everybody's going to compete, everybody is going to fight for everything. But there's a code in this league, there's a code that players follow where you never put a guy's season/career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in mid-air and clubbing him across the head, ultimately fracturing Gary's elbow."
Payton averaged 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 17.6 minutes per game this season in the best statistical showing of his career.
Golden State will likely rely even more on Jordan Poole as a secondary playmaker alongside Stephen Curry for the remainder of this series with Payton sidelined. It could also turn toward Jonathan Kuminga and Damion Lee for additional minutes off the bench.
While the Warriors lost Game 2 after Payton left, they still managed to earn home-court advantage by splitting the first two contests in Memphis.
Game 3 is Saturday in San Francisco.
