Daily Camera (Boulder)

Warriors guard Payton II to be sidelined at least a month

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Newly acquired Golden State guard Gary Payton II will be out for at least a month as he fully recovers from offseason surgery for a core muscle injury, and Warriors general manager Bob Myers is awaiting a decision from the NBA on whether the Trail Blazers withheld anything on Payton’s health before trading him.

“What do I want? Whatever the NBA says is fair, just whatever that is,” Myers said Monday of receiving any potential compensati­on from Portland. “I just want a fair result. I don’t know, whatever it takes it takes, I don’t know how long.”

Myers is hopeful the defensive guard could return before the playoffs. Payton is listed on the injury report with right adductor soreness, stemming from the abdominal area — and there were no further details on whether that means the high-flying Payton’s right leg is also compromise­d.

“Gary’s going to be out. We’re going to evaluate him in a month. It is our determinat­ion he’s not ready to play right now,” Myers said.

Myers wouldn’t address any issues the Warriors had with how Portland handled the trade or whether they failed to share any details on Payton’s health, citing legal constraint­s and medical privacy. Golden State did bring concerns about the process to the league before deciding Sunday to go through with the four-team swap that sent center James Wiseman to the Pistons.

Myers said the team evaluated all options, including perhaps rescinding the trade altogether.

“We had the time we had to make a decision, so it was just more thinking about it,” Myers said. “Probably by Saturday night we had a sense of the direction we going in.”

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