Trail Blazers GM defends team's handling of Gary Payton II injury

Trail Blazers GM Joe Cronin denied that the team did anything wrong in its medical treatment of Gary Payton II, saying that the reserve guard had been “cleared” to play and the organization was “confident that he was healthy,” per Bill Oram of The Oregonian.

The four-team trade involving the Warriors, Pistons, Trail Blazers and Hawks is in jeopardy after Payton failed to pass the Warriors’ physical exam on Friday. Although the trade has been announced as official, players still had to undergo physical exams.

Payton has a lingering core muscle injury that could sideline him for up to three months, according to the exam by the Warriors’ medical staff. Payton was sidelined by a core muscle injury until early January.

He has been playing regularly since his return, including a 22-minute stint against Golden State on Wednesday in which he scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds.

However, Payton has been playing through pain, and the Blazers training staff has been giving him Toradol shots to help him stay on the court, according to a report by The Athletic. That information wasn’t relayed to the Warriors during the negotiation process, The Athletic adds.

Cronin defended the Portland organization and medical staff.

“Player safety is super important to us, it’s a super important thing around the league,” he said. “We were playing him, he was playing. He had been cleared. We were confident he was healthy when he was playing. We would not have brought him back if we thought he wasn’t healthy or he was at risk, so you trust that we did the right thing, and you trust that our process was correct.”

The Warriors have until Saturday to nix the complex deal.