Source: Warriors trade for Gary Payton II in Blazer Deal.

Source: Warriors return GP2 in exchange for Blazers, originally featured on NBC Sports Bayarea.

The Warriors are bringing back Gary Payton II in exchange for the Portland Trail Blazers, a source confirmed to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson on Thursday.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported, citing sources, that the Warriors are sending Kevin Knox and five second-round picks to the Blazers for Payton.

By reacquiring Payton, the Warriors fixed a bug that had upset many players and some fans.

The 30-year-old defensive star blossomed with the Warriors last season, but he was not re-signed as a free agent. Golden State let him leave, where he signed a three-year, $26 million contract with Portland, with the third year a $9.1 million player option.

Now Peyton is back in his place.

And the deal was reported less than 24 hours after Payton played against the Warriors for the first time since going free.

Payton played just over 22 minutes and scored nine points in the Blazers’ 125–122 win over the Warriors on Wednesday night.

After the game, Payton and Jordan Poole traded jerseys. Very quickly, the Payton’s Blazers jersey became a collector’s item.

Payton has survived several injuries this season and has only played 15 games this season, averaging 4.1 points and 2.6 rebounds in 17 minutes per game. But what he brings to defense is what the Warriors really appreciate. As a team, Golden State has struggled with this side of the ball, so GP2 should be a welcome spectacle for coach Steve Kerr.

Following the Warriors’ victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, Draymond Green spoke with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson about what Payton can do ahead of Wednesday’s game at the Moda Center.

“I mean, I’m not really looking forward to playing against him,” Greene told NBC Sports Bay Area following the Warriors’ crushing victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night at the Chase Center. “I know what he can do on the floor and what he brings to the team, so I can’t say I’m looking forward to it.

“But every time you see your brothers in this league, it’s always an honor. It’s a privilege for any of us to be in this league, so every time you get the chance to meet and break bread or compete against each other, it’s always an honor and you can never take it for granted.”

Three days later, Payton, Green and Poole became teammates again, resuming practice battles between JP and GP2.

“Yeah, we’ll be talking all the time,” Poole told reporters after Wednesday’s game in Portland, probably unaware that they would soon be teammates again. “We did it in training, we did it in the game. He’s a contender, a really good defender, a really good player. When you have to play against your brother and guys of that caliber, it’s always exciting.”

The move to Payton ended a busy day for the Warriors as they sent former No. 2 overall James Wiseman to the Detroit Pistons in a three-team trade with the Atlanta Hawks.

As a result of this trade, the Warriors eventually acquired five second-round draft picks from the Hawks and Kevin Knox from the Pistons. All of those assets were then turned over to the Blazers to bring back Payton.

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The combination of Payton and Wiseman’s actions will save the Warriors significant amounts of luxury tax this season and next year, Wojnarowski said.

The Warriors didn’t make flashy moves like the Phoenix Suns or the Dallas Mavericks, but they changed the roster by removing a player (Wiseman) who wasn’t in the rotation and adding a player (Payton) who would immediately be used in big games. . dose according to Kerr.

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