The Golden State Warriors prioritized a reunion with Gary Payton II for a second-straight offseason, bringing the veteran guard back on a minimum conteact to round out their roster.
The Payton signing already looks a little perplexing though after one preseason game, with the 33-year-old seemingly not part of the main rotation based on Sunday’s opener against the L.A. Clippers.
Gary Payton II signing looks perplexing after one game
Despite the Warriors missing three starters in Jimmy Butler, Kristaps Porzingis and Moses Moody, Payton wasn’t introduced to the game till late in the first-half as the 13th player utilized by head coach Steve Kerr in the rotation.
Payton would go on to play just under 12 minutes and played reasonably in the 104-101 defeat, recording six points, one assist and two steals on his customarily efficient 3-of-5 shooting from the floor.
Yet based on this game, which granted is one solitary preseason hitout, Payton could be destined for a bunch of DNPs this season. A similar fate befell him at times early last season, before injuries struck around the team which provided him a bigger role to which he actually grabbed ahold of and played well over the final 30 games or so.
Was that period proof that Payton can still be valuable on a playoff-contending team, or was he simply a beneficiary of more opportunity on a team who understood their struggles and accepted their Play-In fate?
Gary Payton II has tough path to rotational minutes
There's little doubt that Payton will enter the season as the fifth guard in the rotation at best, falling quite clearly behind Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, De'Anthony Melton and the recently acquired Brandon Williams who impressed off the bench on Sunday.
Payton has never been pigeon-holed into a guard role though, having been viewed as the 'little big man' who actually takes on more of a frontcourt role offensively. However, Golden State would seem to have enough optionality in the frontcourt to do away with Payton being part of lineups featuring three players standing at 6'4" or under, with Kerr needing to lean more into size integrity as they look to rebuild their defense under Frank Vogel.
Perhaps this is just a simple matter of Kerr knowing what he has in Payton and instead wanting to see what he has in more unproven players, but there’s already an inkling that the Warriors could come to regret not making a more high upside play if the 2022 champion winds up as not much more than a locker room presence this season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google