Warriors Rumors: Gary Payton II Trade Grievance Won't Be Pursued After Blazers Deal
The Golden State Warriors have decided not to proceed with the grievance that they filed following their trade with the Portland Trail Blazers for Gary Payton II, according to B/R and TNT's Chris Haynes.
The original complaint was filed with the league on Feb. 12, just three days after the NBA trade deadline, and the NBA planned to launch a review into whether or not Portland misled the Warriors on the extent of Payton's core injury that he had been dealing with.
Payton has yet to play for Golden State since being traded back to the Bay Area. He was an integral part of the organization's title run in 2022.
The guard has played in just 15 games this season as he's recovered from offseason abdominal surgery and missed the first 35 games of the year in his first season with Portland.
He failed his physical with the Warriors following the four-team trade with the Blazers, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons, which sparked the Golden State's grievance and almost led to the trade being derailed.
The Warriors' training staff found that Payton had been playing through pain while in Portland and had been receiving Toradol to deal with it, which had not been disclosed ahead of the trade, according to Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports reported Payton finally participated in a full practice Saturday and has been listed as probable for Golden State's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
He'll be a big boost for the team's defense which has fallen off since their championship run last year. They rank 18th in defensive rating (114.0) after being second (106.6) in 2022.
