Payton expected to miss a ‘few weeks’
Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II has endured yet another setback.
After suffering a left hamstring strain in Tuesday night's 121-115 win over Orlando, Payton is expected to miss a “few weeks,” a league source confirmed with the Chronicle on Wednesday.
Payton, 31, sustained the injury in the third quarter when he stumbled trying move around a screen from Magic guard Cole Anthony. After falling awkwardly and grabbing his hamstring, Payton ripped off his headband, threw it and hobbled toward the locker room in visible pain.
Later that night, he tweeted a GIF of a scene from the movie “Half Baked” in which a character shouts, “Man, this is some bulls—!”
Few can blame Payton for being frustrated. Tuesday marked his second game back after missing 13 games with a right calf injury. Last season, Payton was limited to 22 regularseason games with the Trail Blazers and Warriors after undergoing offseason abdominal surgery.
With Payton expected to miss another extended stretch of games, Golden State must again find a way to replace his defense.
He has a team-best 104.1 defensive rating this season.
However, Payton's looming absence brings at least one silver lining: It should help ease the Warriors' rotational logjam. With 13 rotation-caliber players, head coach Steve Kerr has often struggled to keep his substitution patterns manageable.
In nearly 13 minutes off the bench in Thursday's loss to Miami, guard Moses Moody posted 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting with two blocks and three rebounds and also was a team-high plus-10, only for him to not play in the past two games. Odds are Moody will return to the rotation with Payton out.