Gary Payton II is heading back to the Golden State Warriors less than a year after departing the reigning NBA champions, according to ESPN senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
The guard signed with the Portland Trail Blazers as a free agent during the offseason after helping the Warriors win their fourth championship in the space of eight years.
However, Payton was sidelined for several months after undergoing core muscle surgery and did not make his Blazers debut until their 135-106 win over the Detroit Pistons last month.
But the 30-year-old was reportedly traded back to the Warriors on a hectic trade deadline day, with the Blazers receiving five future second-round picks.
Kevin Knox was also traded to the Warriors as part of a three-team trade with the Pistons, who received James Wiseman in the opposite direction while also trading Saddiq Bey to the Atlanta Hawks.
Wiseman, the second overall pick from the 2020 NBA Draft, had bounced between the Warriors' active roster and their G League affiliate, but he could not justify the luxury tax expenses that would have been associated with retaining him on the roster. According to The Athletic's John Hollinger, the Warriors will save a combined $51million in salary and luxury tax this season, and $85m next season by cutting their losses.
Elsewhere, the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics bolstered their three-point shooting and depth after agreeing a trade with Oklahoma City Thunder for 10-year NBA veteran Mike Muscala.
According to The Athletic, the Thunder will receive Justin Jackson and two future second-round picks as part of the deal.
There has also been activity involving Western Conference leaders, the Denver Nuggets, who have traded youngster Bones Hyland to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for two future second-round picks.
Earlier in the day, Kevin Durant completed a stunning trade to the Phoenix Suns from the Brooklyn Nets, who have lost two All-Star starters in as many days after also trading Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks this week.
According to ESPN, the Suns gave the Nets three players in Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder, plus four unprotected first-round picks and a 2028 pick swap.
Reportedly part of the Durant trade, Jae Crowder is heading to the Milwaukee Bucks with the Nets receiving five second-round picks, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Bob Myers reportedly stepping down as Warriors’ president, GM
Bob Myers is reportedly stepping down as president and general manager of the Golden State Warriors after leading the franchise to four NBA titles during his 11 years at the helm.
The news was first reported Tuesday by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The 48-year-old Myers joined the Warriors’ front office in 2011 and was promoted to GM in April 2012.
Since taking over, he hired Steve Kerr as coach, signed Stephen Curry to two supermax contracts, drafted Draymond Green and oversaw the deals for Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Andrew Wiggins.
Under his direction, he helped build the Warriors into one of the most successful franchises in the NBA with four titles and six total trips to the Finals in the last nine years and was twice named the league’s executive of the year.
Golden State, however, was eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semi-finals 2 ½ weeks ago – the franchise’s first playoff loss before the Finals under Kerr.
During Myers' 11 seasons as GM, the Warriors compiled a 571-304 regular-season record – the most wins for any team over that span.
Myers’ decision to step down is the first of what could be a number of major changes for the Warriors this offseason.
Green has a player option on his contract for the 2023-24 season and Klay Thompson is entering the final year of his deal and is eligible for an extension.
Tatum 'a shell' after injury as Williams says Celtics 'got punked'
Jayson Tatum lamented an untimely injury while Grant Williams bluntly said the Boston Celtics "got punked" after their defeat to the Miami Heat.
The Celtics fell short of becoming the first team in NBA history to win a seven-game series after going 3-0 down, as the Heat ended their season with a 103-84 win in Boston.
With talisman Tatum hampered by an ankle injury that he sustained on the first play of Monday's game, the Celtics could not get going as Jimmy Butler led the Heat to the NBA Finals.
Tatum finished with 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting, and was left to reflect on a missed opportunity.
"It was just frustrating that I was a shell of myself," Tatum said.
"It was tough to move. Just frustrating, with it happening on the first play."
Williams' assessment was a blunt one.
"We got punked," the Celtics forward told ESPN.
"We didn't play our game from start to finish. Defensively, we just lost it all, and then offensively we were scrambled and trying to do everything ourselves and just didn't go our way.
"You hate to have that be the end of your season, especially with the fight that we've shown. But shots didn't fall either, so that didn't help. It's just tough."
"[We were] missing shots, and then they're coming down and hitting shots," added Marcus Smart.
"It puts a lot of pressure on our defense to get stops. They were hitting some shots and they got in a rhythm and we weren't making ours."
'It wasn't scripted' – Spoelstra credits 'raw' relationship after Heat end Celtics' history bid
Erik Spoelstra hailed the "intimate" and "raw" relationships within the Miami Heat's roster after his team overcame the Boston Celtics to reach the NBA Finals.
The Heat had squandered a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals, but Game 7 went their way in emphatic fashion.
Jimmy Butler led Miami with 28 points as the Heat won 103-84, ending the Celtics' bid at history in the process.
Boston was aiming to become the first team to win a seven-game series after losing the opening three encounters, but it was not to be.
"It wasn't scripted," Spoelstra told reporters.
"When you have such an intimate relationship with a locker room and they have it with each other, the staff has it with them, they have it with the staff, sometimes it's just whatever's raw, whatever's real at that time.
"Professional sports is just kind of a reflection sometimes of life, that things don't always go your way.
"The inevitable setbacks happen and it's how you deal with that collectively. There's a lot of different ways that it can go. It can sap your spirit. It can take a team down for whatever reason.
"With this group, it's steeled us and made us closer and made us tougher.
"These are lessons that hopefully we can pass along to our children, that you can develop this fortitude.
"Sometimes you have to suffer for the things that you want. Game 6, the only thing that we can do is sometimes you have to laugh at the things that make you cry."
The Heat are only the second No. 8 seed in NBA history to make the Finals, after the 1999 New York Knicks.
Butler was named the Eastern Conference finals MVP, and has full confidence the Heat can go all the way against the Denver Nuggets.
"I just know why coach Pat [Riley] and coach Spoelstra wanted me to be here," Butler said. "That's to compete at a high level and to win championships.
"I know that the group that they put around me at all times is going to give me an opportunity to do so.
"I know the work that we all put into it, so I know what we're capable of. Nobody is satisfied. We haven't done anything. We don't play just to win the Eastern Conference; we play to win the whole thing."
Spoelstra reserved special praise for the Heat's talisman.
"There's no way to quantify the confidence that he can instil in everybody. Jimmy has never had to apologise," Spoelstra said of Butler.
"I don't want him to ever apologise for who he is and how he approaches competition. It's intense. It's not for everybody, and we're not for everybody.
"That's why we think it's like an incredible marriage. We never judge him on that. He doesn't judge us for how crazy we get. It's the same language. But the confidence level that he can create for everybody on the roster is incredible.
"He's gnarly, but he knows how to have a soft touch to give somebody some confidence at the right time. That's the special gift that he has."
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