Blazers say they were confident Payton was healthy
Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said Friday the team was confident Gary Payton II was healthy before agreeing to trade him to Golden State in a four-team deal that could be at risk.
The Athletic reported that Payton had failed Golden State’s physical on Friday. The Warriors can either allow the trade to go through anyway, or rescind it.
Cronin said he was aware of the report but hadn’t been contacted by the Warriors, Hawks or Pistons, who were also in the deal.
“I haven’t heard from any teams about this. So for now I have to defer,” said Cronin, who was at a news conference to speak about Portland’s moves at the NBA trade deadline.
Payton’s time in Portland was brief. He signed a $28 million, three-year contract last summer after playing on Golden State’s NBA championship team. But he missed the first 35 games of the season in Portland because of a core injury that required surgery.
The Athletic reported that Payton could be sidelined for two to three months with
the injury. The report also cites unnamed sources that said he had been playing through pain in Portland.
“He had been cleared and we were confident that he was healthy when he was playing,” Cronin said. “We would not have brought him back if we thought he wasn’t healthy or if he was at risk.”
Portland coach Chauncey Billups agreed.
“We would never push a guy to play. Whether it’s medical or whether a guy just doesn’t feel like he can play that night — say he’s got a headache or say he’s just got a lot of stress at home, or say he has a death in the family,” Billups said. “I would never push somebody to play because I would always be scared of me doing that and then something actually happening.”
As part of the trade, Golden State received unprotected 2026 and ‘28 second-round draft picks from Portland while giving up Memphis’ 2026 second-round pick and its own 2028 second-round selection to the Blazers.
The Warriors sent center James Wiseman to Detroit in the four-team trade. The Pistons traded forward Saddiq Bey to the Hawks and the Blazers acquired forward Kevin Knox II from the Detroit along with three conditional second-round picks from the Hawks.
n NETS: Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas was fined $40,000 by the NBA on Friday for using derogatory and disparaging language during a live television interview.
Thomas was being interviewed along with Spencer Dinwiddie on TNT after the Nets’ 116-105 victory over Chicago on Thursday night. He was asked about Dinwiddie’s joke that he and Dorian Finney-Smith, who came together from Dallas in the trade for Kyrie Irving, helped make the Nets a better-looking team.
Thomas laughingly responded with a gay slur.
The 21-year-old guard, who before Thursday had become the youngest player in league history with three straight 40-point games, apologized after the game on social media.
“I want to apologize for the insensitive word I used in the post-game interview,” he wrote on Twitter. “I was excited about the win and was being playful. I definitely didn’t intend to offend anyone, but realize that I probably did. My apologies again. Much love.”
n ALL-STAR RESERVES: Toronto forward Pascal Siakam, Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards and Sacramento guard De’Aaron Fox have been added to the player pool for the All-Star Game as injury replacements.
Commissioner Adam Silver’s office announced the picks Friday, after they were first reported by ESPN.
Siakam, Edwards and Fox replace Golden State’s Stephen Curry, New Orleans’ Zion Williamson and Phoenix’s Kevin Durant — all of whom are injured and will be unable to play in the Feb. 19 game at Salt Lake City.
It’s the second All-Star selection for Siakam, and the first for Edwards and Fox.