The agent for Gary Payton II issued a strong response on Saturday to the report about his client’s use of Toradol pain-killing injections.
Aaron Goodwin, who represents Payton, shared a statement with NBA reporter Chris B. Haynes on Saturday.
“Despite of what’s being reported, my client never took Toradol shots to be available for games during his time in Portland,” Goodwin told Haynes.
The Golden State Warriors agreed to a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday that would send Payton to Golden State for five second-round picks. The deal involved Detroit and Atlanta, as James Wiseman was being traded to the Pistons and Saddiq Bey to the Hawks.
The trade is in jeopardy of being rescinded after the Warriors had concerns about Payton’s health following a physical. According to reports, Golden State believes the Blazers withheld pertinent information regarding Payton’s condition. Payton had core muscle surgery over the offseason that caused him to miss the first 35 games this season.
The Blazers have cleared Payton to play, but the Warriors reportedly believe the guard needs to rest for 2-3 months.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported Friday that Payton has been playing through pain and “the Blazers training staff had been pushing him to gut through it, giving him Toradol shots. This had not been relayed to the Warriors during the negotiation process.”
The Warriors seem to feel the Blazers negotiated in bad faith. Goodwin is saying that Payton never used Toradol injections to play in games.
Either the Warriors accept the trade or they rescind it, causing James Wiseman (Warriors) and Saddiq Bey (Pistons) to return to their original teams. Golden State has until Sunday to make a decision. The league could investigate the matter, but they wouldn’t have their findings for a while.
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