NBA investigating Warriors’ complaint about Gary Payton II trade

Apr 10, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II (0) during warmups before the game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Golden State Warriors believe the Portland Trail Blazers withheld pertinent medical information before the two sides agreed to a trade involving Gary Payton II, and the NBA is now looking into the situaton.

The NBA has launched a review of the Warriors’ complaint that they were misled by Portland, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports.

Golden State agreed to a trade with the Blazers on Thursday that would send Payton to the Warriors for five second-round picks. The deal also involved Detroit and Atlanta, as James Wiseman was being traded to the Pistons and Saddiq Bey to the Hawks.

The trade is in jeopardy of being rescinded after the Warriors had concerns about Payton’s health following a physical. The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported Friday that Payton has been playing through pain and “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.”

The Warriors seem to believe the Blazers withheld information and negotiated in bad faith. Payton’s agent has denied that the guard ever used Toradol injections to play in games.

Now that the NBA is investigating the Warriors’ concerns, we may not hear a final resolution on the trade for several days.