Warriors GM Bob Myers addresses grievance with Trail Blazers about Gary Payton II trade: ‘I just want a fair result’

Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers on Monday declined to offer specifics about the complaint his organization filed with the NBA against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Gary Payton II trade.

“There’s things I can’t say for legal reasons and also for HIPAA reasons, and that’s the truth,” Myers told reporters Monday. “I’m not trying to deflect it. At some point, if we have information that we can give you, we will. But me speaking publicly on it behind the scenes, I don’t think moves anything forward. And I think wouldn’t be the best thing to do and not even probably allowed to.”

However, when asked what rules exist regarding disclosures during trade negotiations, Meyers’ answer suggested that the Blazers were not forthright about the extent of Payton’s core muscle injury, which is at the center of this controversy.

“There’s medical disclosures, there’s conversations, things like that,” Myers said. “And without risking specificity in this case, the normal course of business is just to provide whatever’s required and do that and that’s what happens in all of the trades in the NBA, and I think other sports too.”

The Warriors’ complaint, according to multiple reports, claims that the Blazers withheld information surrounding the severity of Payton’s core muscle injury, which required offseason surgery and caused him to miss the first 35 games of this season.

Payton, who played 22 minutes against the Warriors Wednesday night, was involved in a four-team trade that sent him back to Golden State and delivered the Blazers five second-round picks and forward Kevin Knox.

The trade became controversial on Friday, when Payton reportedly failed his physical with the Warriors. According to reports by The Athletic and ESPN, sources said the Blazers had not been honest about the extent of Payton’s injury and that he had been taking Toradol — an anti-inflammatory drug — to play.

Myers and the Warriors had until 6:30 p.m. Sunday to rescind the trade or let it stand, and they decided to keep the trade in place.

Myers said Payton is excited to be back with Golden State, which he played for last season when it won the NBA championship. But, Myers added, his team’s medical staff does not believe Payton is healthy enough to play and will be reevaluated in a month.

Initial reports from The Athletic, citing sources, said Payton would be sidelined for 2-3 months.

When asked what Portland did in the process that led to the complaint, Myers declined to comment. But he made it clear that Payton is not ready to play.

“I don’t want to go down that road of accusations because that’s all going to be handled at a different level and not for today and not for me,” Myers said. “Gary is going to be out. From our standpoint, we’re going to reevaluate him in a month and see where he’s at. But it is our determination that he’s not ready to play right now. But when we get him back, hopefully we do get him back, at some point. The goal would be pre playoffs. That would be the hope. But until we get a sense of how the rehab process is going, I can’t really speculate.”

Payton made his season debut with the Blazers on Jan. 2 and played 15 games, averaging 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 17.0 minutes.

The Warriors were not permitted to try to amend the four-team trade with the Blazers — and perhaps ask to reduce the number of second-round picks in the deal — because the trade deadline had already passed.

“We looked at all the different choices,” Myers said. “Once we had a little bit more information and gone through our physical and based upon many different things decided to go through with it.”

Myers said the Warriors didn’t see a path for James Wiseman, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft who went to the Detroit Pistons in the trade, to return to Golden State. He’d appeared in just 21 games this season.

Also, Myers said, the Warriors believe that even beyond this season, Payton is a better fit, especially on defense. An added bonus is Payton’s familiarity with Warriors’ system.

Financial motives also were involved in the trade. The Warriors sought to shed Wiseman’s contract, which pays him $9.6 million this season and $12.1 million next season, to decrease their luxury tax bill.

“We had to be careful with the amount of money we take on in this trade,” Myers said. “I think it saved us $6 or $7 million this year. And just apples to apples, $30 million, next year.”

Payton signed a three-year, $26.1 million deal with the Blazers last summer.

It’s unclear how the NBA might resolve this situation or even how long the process might last.

“What do I want? Whatever the NBA says is fair,” Myers aid. “Just whatever that is, I just want a fair result.”

And perhaps more importantly, Myers and the Warriors want a healthy Payton in their lineup for another championship push.

“I’m hoping that we can get him back for the playoffs and he’s now in our building,” Myers said. “And I trust whatever they tell me and we’ll move forward and we need him. Hopefully at some point he comes back and can help us because I do believe if he does get back, there’s a role for him. I think the coaches and players think that too.”

— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts

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