Kurtenbach: Why the Warriors approved the Gary Payton II-James Wiseman trade
The deal lacks the same shine as it did Thursday, but it's still the right move for the Dubs.
The Warriors didn’t have much choice, really.
While Gary Payton II’s failed physical would torpedo a normal trade, the Warriors’s trade to acquire the defensive ace — and 2022 NBA Champion — from the Portland Trail Blazers was anything but normal.
Four teams, four players, and a whole lotta draft picks.
The Warriors were the only team objecting to the deal following Thursday’s trade deadline, and the NBA made it clear to them that it was all-or-nothing — no changes allowed.
Even with Payton set to miss at least three months with an abdominal injury, the Warriors couldn’t stop the trade from completing.
There were three big reasons why:
1. Awkwardness
Discussing trades in the NBA is an exercise in impersonality.
Yes, these are basketball players paid millions and this is part of their business, but they’re also people with emotions.
Moving is brutal, even for those who are seasoned in the practice. That’s bad enough. But being traded is an experience that so few of us would ever understand.
Imagine if your boss came to your desk and said “we’re sending you to another company. We like their guy better.”
Now imagine your boss did that and you still had to work for them.
The James Wiseman era of Warriors basketball was already awkward enough. He was the wrong pick to go No. 2 overall, taken for all the wrong reasons, which played out over the next three years.
It was good for the Warriors and good for Wiseman for this trade to happen.
That said, the Warriors were still choosing someone else over him. That can’t feel good.
It would have been unimaginable for the Warriors to bring Wiseman back into the fold on a technicality after he had been traded to another team.
Nothing would have changed with Wiseman — he would have still been a raw, inexperienced player on the wrong team, sitting at the end of the bench, grabbing only garbage-time minutes — save for the fact that the situation would have become even more gauche than the big man in the Dubs’ offense.
Wiseman’s time with the Warriors was up. He and the Dubs needed a fresh start. Reversing the trade would have been too awkward to manage.
2. Cash money
The Warriors were fully prepared to trade Wiseman for nothing at the trade deadline. The top priority was dumping his salary, which will be more than $12 million next season — an exorbitant sum for a G-League player on a luxury-tax-paying team.
Frankly, given Payton’s injury, the Warriors might have preferred the salary dump.
Alas, the chance to bring a great Warrior back into the fold was too good to pass up, and the Warriors are still saving some money.
Payton makes slightly less than Wiseman for this season, but his contract is a nearly $3.5 million reduction in salary for the Warriors next season.
That’s a win for Golden State.
If Payton can’t play this season, he’ll still be on the court as much as the Warriors wanted Wiseman on the court.
Nothing was gained, but nothing but potential was lost for this season.
And that potential was wildly overrated.
It’s not a total loss on the court for the Warriors, though.
Payton is under contract for two more seasons. He’s not cheap — there’s a reason he was on the Blazers — but when he’s healthy, that’s fair-market value for one of the best on-ball perimeter defenders in the NBA.
Even if the Warriors cannot put Payton on the floor this season, the likelihood is that Donte DiVincenzo will pull a Payton and leave the Warriors in free agency this offseason. He’s going to be in high demand.
Yes, DiVincenzo was the Payton replacement, now Payton can be the DiVincenzo replacement.
Would it be ideal if the two could play together this season? Absolutely, but that might not be in the cards.
3. The book isn’t closed
While the NBA was hard-line in its stance that there could be no changes to the deal, the league is still looking into the trade.
The Warriors have filed a complaint to the NBA, alleging that the Blazers did not disclose all relevant injury information during the negotiation process.
And while the trade was finalized, the league will still adjudicate the Dubs’ request.
So that’s something. I doubt the league will return the Warriors’ draft picks, but perhaps in a few months, the Dubs will get an Amazon gift card or something.
“Sorry we took five second-round picks from you. Here’s $75 — The Blazers”
Ultimately, the possibility that the Blazers might not get off scot-free was enough to get this deal over the line.
It might not be the perfect move it looked to be on Thursday, but it’s still the right move for the Warriors.