JULY 6: The Trail Blazers have officially signed Payton, according to a press release from the team.
“We are excited to have Gary join us in Portland,” general manager Joe Cronin said. “Gary brings an elite defensive acumen and championship pedigree that will be essential to how we play basketball. His competitiveness and toughness will accent Coach (Chauncey) Billups’ style of play.”
JULY 1: The Trail Blazers are finalizing a three-year contract agreement with free agent guard Gary Payton II, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the deal is expected to be worth $28MM. It will include a player option and incentives, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report first reported that Portland was in hot pursuit of Payton with a deal believed to be worth in the range of $8MM annually. The price tag reported by Charania comes in a little higher than that, as the Blazers have apparently committed to using most of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign the 29-year-old.
Payton, who has never signed an NBA contract worth more than the minimum salary, caught on as the Warriors’ 15th man last fall, then secured a regular spot in the rotation, carving out a niche as a defensive stopper.
While most of Payton’s value stems from his ability to slow down perimeter scorers, he had his best offensive season in 2021/22 too, chipping in 7.1 PPG in just 17.6 MPG and shooting an impressive 61.6% from the floor. He played a key role in the Warriors’ championship run, returning from a fractured elbow in the NBA Finals to defend the likes of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart.
As Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets, Golden State wanted to bring back Payton but was unwilling to match Portland’s offer, which would have cost the Warriors exponentially more due to the subsequent luxury tax penalties.
Payton is on track to join a Portland team that has made it a priority this offseason to upgrade its defense and struck a deal last week to acquire forward Jerami Grant from Detroit. The Blazers were also linked earlier today to versatile free agent wing Bruce Brown, but he may be out of their price range now that they’re using their MLE on Payton.
Good for GPIII
Yes agreed. Couldn’t be happier for him. That’s what it’s all about. Grinding away in the hopes of a nice big payday as reward for all the years of effort.
And bad for GSW.
Dame, Simons, Little, Hart, Sharpe, GPII. Another move has to be coming, not enough minutes to go around .
I like the defense
Simons Pay can play some 2
Little a 3
Hart Sharpe can also play 3
Plenty of mins
I’d be looking more at Bledsoe being moved, and 1 of Winslow, Little, Brown,and obviously Dunn is a FA. Hart and Sharpe play on the wing, Little at the 4/3
…I forgot about Keon Johnson as well…theh should probably look for a floor spacing big, in addition to potentially another shooter on the wing behind Hart, unless Sharpe just takes those minutes
From 1st to Worst ?
I get him and his Pops played College Ball at Oregon State, but …. still I’m in shock.
Dub Nation is going to miss him.
Money talks. Especially when you’re pushing 30 and have fought tooth and nail through the G league. He’s already got the ring. Chase the bag young man!
Can’t blame him going from taking a video coordinator job to a $28 million contract in less than a year is like winning the lotto. Portland fans will love him because when he comes off the bench he can steer their bench players.
Blazers getting a little heavy on 6-3 guards again. Lacking forward and center depth… whats next? Most of their bullets are now fired… trades?
Bringing back Eubanks then maybe Noel or Mitchell Robinson or trade for Poetl with a 1st
Garza Moses Brown, Zeller are free
Get rid of Nurk and Bledsoe
The Warriors were all talk when it came to looking after Payton. The Golden State Code Breakers!
3 years/$28mm is 3/$196mm for the Warriors.
My guess is Lillard and Simons start together in the backcourt and Payton and Sharpe come off the bench behind them.
Won’t be surprised if Sharpe starts (taller, longer, more athletic) and Simons plays off the bench with Payton in a sixth man scoring role.
That’ll mean Josh Hart now spending more time at the 3 spot or traded…
They could really do with another strong defender at the 3. OG would’ve been great but cost to much.
Sharpe is not going to play much early in the year he is very raw talent.
Did you say Payton in a scoring role? Have you watched him play? Defense and hustle are his game, but scoring…?
He can score. He hangs around the basket and puts in rebounds off the glass. He has improved his 3 point shooting last year. He will give you double figure scoring off the bench.
Anyone can score. I’m questioning “scoring role” for a guy who had his highest point production of 7ppg and is only on the floor due to his exceptional defense.
Damn.good for him. Will miss him
They have multiple guys I could see them potentially trading. They have a lot of similar guys at the 4 spot/guard, and should probably be looking to move Bledsoe. That being said, Payton helps a lot with Lillard and Simons, especially if those guys will be on the floor at the same time.
Funny enough, they had multiple chances at Payton a couple of years ago, and I said at the time I didnt get why they didnt keep him
He ends up with the exact amount I was talking about a couple of days ago, so good for him. I knew this dude was an NBA player. Elite steals guy, useful as a playmaker, improving jumpshot/corner 3, a good leader, and plays hard. All things I was $#@+ on for saying.
GS has a couple of potential fall back options, which I mentioned the other day, although obviously not many. To reiterate those, they are
Michael Carter-Williams, Josh Okogie, Kris Dunn, Marcus Garrett, Isaac Bonga, Trent Forrest, David Duke, Elfrid Payton
There might be more I wasnt thinking of, as those were mostly off the top of my head, and other previously considered not gettable pieces could become available. There is also Summer league, where you can find contributors
This also doesnt factor in Iguodala, who could slide over to the guard spot more often, where you could then make an additional list of playmaking, defensive wings you can go to instead of those guard options, which could potentially be useful as depth anyway after losing JTA
GS fall back option is Moses Moody. This year’s Moses Moody development project will be Ryan Rollins. Done.
Moody will be a potential rotation piece for sure. What I’m saying doesnt preclude that. Rollins is more like Poole than Moody, and probably takes Lee’s spot or gets a 2 way deal. He is also injured
Warriors need to go after some defense losing JTA and Payton weakens them on defense. Is there anyone they can bring back to improve it.
They probably try to get Durant
The Blazers are a mess. No direction.
They are far better focused now then they were 2 years ago and last year!
False. As soon as Blazers realized they have no direction, they took one pretty quick last year. Trust in Joe
Which direction is that? Right now they look like a treadmill team which is the last place you want to be.
Want to see this Billups D team in action…
Dubs futur tax make them lose 2 good pieces maybe more if Looney ask for what he deserves, even Otto …
His dad earned $104 million. Wonder if he will ever get that high. I guess he’s close to 30% of the way there now
Went to Oregon State. Should feel at home. Should feel league wide respect
Props to him, better late than never.
Glad to see him prove the guys that said he’s only get the MLE wrong.
Sad for the Warriors, I guess the cap still works, occasionally!
He got slightly less than the full midlevel…I guessed 5-9 million for 2-3 years, depending on if he stayed or went, and that’s what he got
Wide range guess. Don’t pay yourself on the back too much.
Steve Kerr can figure out a way to ride Steph to a title, but is he ever a total moron to have to play under. Yet another “mysterious” GSW walking because Kerr is such an idiot to have to work with. GP2 should have been playing 30 MPG this year but Kerr needed to play DLee+Chiozza for no reason at all to play and directly cause the team to lose.
Kerr+Wiggins are the only frauds on this team, and they have SO MANY fooled. But not me, I see it.
Its not Kerr but Bob Meyers that selects who fits the team. The problem I see them doing is giving Poole a max deal instead of signing Payton. As good as Poole is on offense on defense he sucks. i wouldn’t give Poole a max deal instead trade him while value is high for a young PG. Yes Poole can give you 30 points but he can also give up 3o points on defense.
Nope, we just saw what only having ONE playmaker looks like (2020/21).
We were the 2nd best defensive team in the NBA last year, we need non-Curry offense more than we need more defense. Why are so many GSW fans obsessed with having 15 elite defenders and only one scorer? You like those 5+ minute stretches with no scoring? We don’t win like that.
Bob Myers doesn’t decide the MPG’s, thats on Kerr.
Poole is next level incredible and MUST be a Warrior for life. You dont know ball if you disagree.
Poole is the next Crawford. His defense was the main focus of other teams to switch off on him to score. Unless he improves on defense I have big concerns for next year. That is why they needed to win this year because the team is going back to being off balance because of to many top payroll players.
GP3 was not a playmaker. Good signing for Portland nonetheless.
Thanks for everything, Gary. That dude plays with heart.
What a payday for GP2!! It’s well deserved, congrats! As for W’s, we have to pass on 28m…