Golden State’s new signing Gary Payton II is expected to be sidelined for at least one month

As the Warriors management still awaits for a decision from the NBA on whether Portland withhold medical information on Gary Payton II prior to agreement, the newly acquired Golden State guard will be out for at least a month as he fully recovers from offseason surgery for a core muscle injury.

Golden State general manager Bob Myers simply asks for justice as he considers the negotations weren’t as transparent as they should be before trading him.

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

Myers most important concern is to have the guard back before the playoffs. Payton’s injury report explains that he suffers right adductor soreness, surrounding the abdominal area. Although we are yet to understand if the player’s right leg is also compromised, as there were no further details on it.

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

As the Warriors already made clear their decision of accepting the situation and going ahead with the defensive guard’s trade, yesterday Myers avoided to address any issues with how Portland handled the negotations. Nevertheless, Golden State did bring up their doubts about the process to the NBA before deciding Sunday to go through with it.

Let’s recap on the negotiations. The four-team swap meant center James Wiseman got sent to the Detroit Pistons, Saddiq Bey to the Atlanta Hawks, Kevin Know to the Trail Blazers and of course, Payton II to the Bay Area. Warriors also handed out 5-second round picks, including three to Portland and two to the Hawks.

How close were they to cancelling the whole operation?

Myers admitted that his management team evaluated all options, even the idea of rescinding the transfers altogether. “Probably by Saturday night we had a sense of the direction we going in,” Myers told the press. “We had the time we had to make a decision, so it was just more thinking about it.”

Even though the reigning champions expected to use Payton’s talents immediately, the GM prefers to focus on the long-term perspective. “We still think it’s helpful. We just have to wait till he gets healthy,” Myers declared.

The 30-year-old, who signed a $28 million three-year contract with Portland, had played against the Warriors as his team won last Wednesday night’s clash in Oregon. Then he got traded before the transfer window closed, only to rejoin his former team a day later.

“As far as Gary what he does for us I think you all know, you’ve seen what he does for us,” Myers said about the guard who’s averaging 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists over 15 games this campaign. “We’re trying to help give this team a boost, near term, long term.”

Myers admitted that letting Wiseman go was a difficult decision. As the young player missed all of last season while recovering from right knee surgery, Golden State didn’t consider he would make an impact this tournament and believed he was better off as a trade asset.