The NBA is reviewing whether the Portland Trail Blazers gave the Warriors misleading information about the health of guard Gary Payton II before Golden State traded for him, The Athletic reported Sunday.
The Warriors filed a complaint against the Trail Blazers, per the report.
Golden State has until Sunday at 9:30 p.m. to call a halt to a four-team trade with Portland, the Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons. The Warriors contend the Trail Blazers didn’t share the full extent of Payton’s abdominal injury.
A physical conducted by the Warriors’ medical team following the trade on Thursday showed the injury would keep Payton out for most of the remainder of the season.
Portland could be fined or lose draft picks should the review reveal any wrongdoing.
In the complex trade, the Warriors shipped former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman to the Pistons, who sent forward Saddiq Bey to the Hawks and Kevin Knox II to the Blazers. The Warriors traded five second-round picks to Portland for the 30-year-old Payton.
The other players have yet to play for their new teams, pending the Warriors’ decision about completing the trade.
Payton had abdominal surgery in the offseason and missed the first 35 games of this season. In 15 games (one start), he is averaging 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals in 17.0 minutes per game. He is known as a defensive specialist.
Portland general manager Joe Cronin said Friday that the Blazers were confident Payton was in good health.
“Player safety is super important to us. It’s a super important thing around the league,” Cronin said. “We were playing him, he was playing, and he had been cleared and we were confident that he was healthy when he was playing. We would not have brought him back if we thought he wasn’t healthy or if he was at risk. So you trust that we did the right thing and trust that our process was correct.”
–Field Level Media
