Sounds like he wont be playing again this season, but if he does it will be interesting to see the fan reaction on the final regular season game when we play the Warriors here at home on April 9th.
So Chris Haynes on his podcast with Marc Stein today said GS wants the league to investigate us because a similar situation arose with Larry Nance last year being injured during the trade with New Orleans.
They apparently think its a pattern of misleading or withholding info in trade talks. And GS wants us to be punished for this.
Haynes said GS is "distraught over this to the point of them wanting Portland to face a penalty even if it means they dont directly benefit." Also, he said GP will be out for max a few weeks if that. Gimme a break
They're coming to the realization that their window has closed and they just dumped their number two pick for nothing.
how is it similar I'd wonder? Payton started and played 22 minutes, AGAINST the Warriors, about 13 hours before the trade. Meanwhile Nance had been out for a full month before he was traded and there was no time-table for his return. The Pelicans knew what the situation was (just like the Warriors knew about Payton) well before the trade. Now, IIRC, Nance had a procedure done a couple of days after the trade....maybe that's what the Warriors are focused on further, and I may be remembering this wrong, tthe reporting was that the Blazers and Pelicans had the framework of a deal in place for CJ and Cronin went back to the Pels and requested that Nance be added so the Blazers could increase their TPE. Pels said OK as long as Cronin could find a home for Satoransky, which he did if Haynes is right, that sounds like the Warriors are desperately searching for cover. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the next reveal in this twisting, changing story is that the Blazers did list Toradol in the trade data
Golden State PUBLICLY SAYS they want us punished for that. It's ludicrous ... the Warrios have gotten religion and become Captain NBA all of a sudden.
I think they got worked over by Cronin. That's the primary reason. They wanted Payton back and Payton wanted to be back there and it wasn't a secret. Cronin had leverage and when the Warrios got five 2R draft picks back, Cronin exercised that leverage. Somewhere soon after that either someone with GS management or less likely Payton's camp leaked that he was playing hurt, and an embellished story got out from the Athletic beat writer to Shams, then Woj and then the world and took on a life of its own. At that point, the Warrios try to walk things back and when it's apparent that the story's not just going to die, they double-down on a dramatically watered-down version -- after all, they know they're going to play Payton well before the playoffs. Anyway, the odds the NBA will penalize them for putting out a false story about another team is almost zero, so there's nothing for them to lose. If the NBA says "no harm," GS can say "OK, we just wanted to be sure." It's a PR nightmare for them otherwise.
They didn't want it to look like they gave up more for an injured role player than they got for a recent No. 2 overall pick. They tried to put out a rationalization that they didn't realize how hurt Payton was, and I'd bet the high heavens that they were surprised the GS media, Shams and others saw an opportunity for a big story that didn't hurt anyone they really cared about to let their imaginations run wild with a story of the horrors of winning at all costs and the renegade Blazers and that Lillard certainly must consider leaving an organization that mistreats its own. And, if anyone thinks that last line is tinfoil hat stuff, just read the Twitter threads on the 10th and 11th and you'll see a lot of regular fans and even some beat writers and podcasters for other teams saying exactly that.
Hold on, Nance was inactive (read: injured) for almost a month before trade. WTF are they talking about? "wait, an injury prone guy who missed the last month was injured!? THE HELL YOU SAY!"
