Kurtenbach: Gary Payton II was the one who got away. Thank goodness the Warriors brought him back
The Warriors look like a complete, formidable team with the Young Glove back in the fold.
The Warriors were wrong this past summer.
They knew how they could keep Gary Payton II on the team’s roster. They decided not to do it.
Had the Warriors traded center James Wiseman after the team’s title parade, Golden State would have freed enough money to reasonably re-sign Payton to a market-level deal, despite the team’s luxury-tax issues.
Important members of the Dubs’ brass were desperate to make the move. It didn’t happen.
Pride stood in the way. Enough important people with the Warriors did not want to concede defeat on the failing Wiseman experiment. They fell prey to the sunk-cost fallacy.
So instead of keeping the 30-year-old Payton, an undrafted journeyman who became a critical member of the team’s title rotation last season, the Warriors stuck with the former No. 2 overall pick. Payton, in turn, signed his first big NBA deal, a three-year, $26.1 million contract with the Blazers.
Thank goodness the Warriors admitted their mistake in February.
Payton has barely played for the Warriors this season — a core muscle injury sidelined him for nearly two months following his trade back to the Bay — but in the 42 minutes he’s been on the court for the Dubs, he has proven himself to be the player who should have never gotten away.
And while the Warriors have done their best this season to make us forget that they won the title last June — the team is fighting to stay out of the play-in tournament, after all — having Payton back in the fold makes it easier to imagine a world where the Warriors are raising a trophy again this summer.
“We need that,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Payton. “We need that energy. We need that athleticism.”
The Warriors certainly needed it on Friday night. Because the 2022-23 Warriors are only consistent at being inconsistent, the Dubs followed a solid come-from-behind win against the Pelicans on Tuesday with a lackluster effort for three-plus quarters against the lowly, tanking Spurs.
The team needed a boost.
Draymond Green’s tank was empty after Tuesday’s game. A leg injury in the first half and a head-to-head collision in the second didn’t help matters for the Dubs’ “heartbeat.”
More specifically, they needed solidity. Someone to play basketball the right way — something Green wasn’t providing in his six-turnover game.
The Dubs needed someone to be a pro.
Enter the pro’s pro, Payton.
Yes, he was 3-for-5 from the floor, pulled down eight rebounds, and had both a block and a steal in 18 minutes of plus-13 work Friday, but the general game box score won’t fully tell you the guard’s impact on the contest. No, you have to go deeper than that — into the stats that were once only kept by end-of-bench assistant coaches.
Payton also had two deflections, two possessions saved by recovering loose balls, and a big fourth-quarter box out that led to two critical Steph Curry free throws with 3:48 remaining Friday.
Remember box outs?
Payton does.
It’s those little things that the Warriors have been missing.
Kevon Looney — the Warriors’ go-to janitor this season — can only clean up so much. Payton fills the gaps and gives the Warriors that Looney-like impact from a guard.
Or is Payton a forward? He did play the 4 in the NBA Finals last year.
The fact that it’s impossible to say with the 6-foot-2 Payton tells you everything you need to know about the player.
The Warriors need the big things from Payton, too. His elite perimeter defense will be necessary for this team, whether or not Andrew Wiggins returns to the fold. And he’ll need to keep knocking down open corner 3-pointers.
But now, Payton is a closer for this team — a better option on most nights than Donte DiVincenzo and Jordan Poole, who have proven to be worthy to close games themselves.
Add in the fact that Jonathan Kuminga has played his way into a starting role and Anthony Lamb’s quality play on the wing (he had six deflections Friday), and it’s undeniable that the Warriors have a bit of depth in these, the final days of the regular season.
Payton was the keystone to this roster last year.
He appears to be it again this season.
We’ll see if the result of this campaign is the same as the last, but what once seemed laughable feels all the more possible with Payton back in blue and gold.