Warriors guard Gary Payton II has exercised his player option for the 2024/25 season, reports Kendra Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link). While most player option decisions are due on June 29, Payton’s deadline to opt in was June 19.
The move will guarantee Payton a $9.13MM salary for next season, putting him on track to reach unrestricted free agency in 2025 if he doesn’t sign a contract extension before then. He’ll be extension-eligible for the entire 2024/25 league year, beginning in July.
A stalwart perimeter defender, Payton averaged 5.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 15.5 minutes per game across 44 appearances off the bench for the Warriors last season, with a shooting line of .563/.364/.609. The 31-year-old has been affected by injuries over the past couple years, appearing in just 66 total regular season games since playing in 83 total contests (71 regular season, 12 playoffs) for Golden State’s title-winning team in 2021/22.
At the end of the Warriors’ season in April, Payton expressed a desire to remain with the team and referenced the possibility of “redoing” his deal, leading to speculation that he might turn down his option in order to sign a longer-term contract with a smaller starting salary, giving Golden State some additional short-term cap flexibility. However, while that scenario was explored, the numbers didn’t make for both sides, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Payton’s decision to opt in means the club will have to account for his $9MM+ cap hit, pushing team salary closer to the luxury tax threshold. The Warriors now have $137MM in guaranteed money on their books for eight players in 2024/25. That figure doesn’t include the $5MM non-guaranteed portion of Kevon Looney‘s contract, Chris Paul‘s $30MM non-guaranteed salary, or a potential deal for free agent swingman Klay Thompson. The luxury tax line next season projects to be just north of $171MM.
As Slater points out, Payton’s opt-in doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll spend next season in Golden State, since his expiring contract could be a useful salary-matching piece in a trade. But as long as he’s healthy, the veteran guard is the team’s best backcourt defender and a valuable role player — his +5.8 net rating was the second-best mark among Warriors regulars in 2023/24, Slater notes.
WHY has he been mostly injury proned since he signed 3 yr $27m contract 2 yrs ago? Is it just bad luck?
I mean a lot of his injuries are like he lands awkward and tweaks his calf. I dont know if hes unlucky or just prone to muscle injuries.
I know he is really useful when hes 100% but keeping him there has become harder and harder
From me watching their games, I think it was because of the Warriors’ constant small-ball lineups where they demanded a lot from him despite his size. Many nights I would see GPII guarding the opposing team’s SF, PF’, and even center. Mind you, he did an excellent job in many of those games, but I think the Warriors’ overreliance on his defensive abilities in these tough assignments, as well as his rebounding abilities in these small lineups, started to catchup to him…
He went for a layup after the whistle on a foul screwing around and tweaked his calf and missed a month I mean thats not because of small ball. Another was catching knees and stepping awkwardly. You would think they were just random if it didnt happen every time someone looks at his legs wrong.
@cresstheory2016 strong agreed, Kerr kept trying to make a Steph, Klay, Podz, GP2 and a big lineup work and it never did. GP2 is an excellent defender at the 2/SG, but he rarely actually played there last season. If Kerr kept him at the 2, Paytons defense is elite because he can battle bigs who switch onto him, unlike Podz who got exploited for lack of size all year from being switched on, as Podz plays small (despite collecting deflection rebounds) and GP2 plays big.
I disagree that last season “he did an excellent job” as GSW lost so many close games due to bad defensive schemes that included too many under 6’6″ players. If he was excellent, like he was in 2022, we would have lasted a lot longer into the playoffs. I have no issues moving on from GP2 because Podz exists now and Kerr wants him to be his “connector guy” which is a phrase I have never heard in my 20+ years of being a basketball nerd. I think Kerr making up stuff like that really doesn’t help us, but we still have 4 rings from this core, so I can’t really criticize it too much.
I think in large part being nearly 32 and having some bad luck is most of it. He seemed to be pretty banged up in title year and played through it. It was rumored that him being a bit beaten up was amongst the reasons the Dubs did not re-sign him. Myers acquiring him back while seemingly still injured seemed like a desperate way of showing something for Wiseman dump. At this point, a healthy Payton is something a lot of Dubs fans would seem to want but can anyone trust him to be healthy going forward. Most players don’t get healthier at 32.
what more to come? Of course he picks up his option. Nobody is signing him to multiple years with his injury issues. He offered GSW to take back money but wanted more years added to the contract.
How about Looney?? Cant wait to see what the team does…
looks like they are negotiating with him on taking less money than his $8 million deal. they will let him go at $8 million but if he takes a $6 million deal I would more likely say he stays.
Thats not how this works. They can pick him up at 8M or cut him for 3M after that he can take the min from GSW or take more somewhere else. They cant renegotiate the current deal to 6M its pay 8M or cut him and see what happens where they can only offer the min after cutting him
If that is the case he is as good as gone. Warriors are trying to not have a big tax bill like last year. Not making the playoffs cost them a huge amount of money.
He was not so good last year so he might take the minimum, and the team needs more bigs than him since Saric is gone and they were probably one big short all season. You could convince me to bring Loon back since there arent a lot of better options on the min and he is great as a clubhouse leader. He just seemed to take such a step back this year that its not worth it if he isnt able to at least be in the rotation.
I am good with this
I want to trade Klay and Dray ASAP
Klay SNT
If not, I want to get rid of Mike Dunleavy
Agreed. Payton is very good when healthy!
Basic expectation is playoffs
Klay and Dray are not able to do it any more
Done
Dray had a good season when he was playing. His defense is still strong. His problem is keeping on the floor. Klay is a good 3rd option. His defense is not what it used to be. still better than LeBron on defense.
If you watched the games you would know Draymond Green played his best basketball since 2016, when he was on the court. He really needs to stop resorting to violence on the court but he is worth every penny when he does. He shot so much better this year, it really revived his career. If you don’t want him next to Steph, then you really just don’t want GSW to win, which many posters here apparently do, which is pure coping from haters.
I agree that he played very well but you can not minimize that he was a major distraction to the team. He hurt the team much more than help this past year. You are in denial if you dont see this.
Yes, he hurt the team by not playing, because he got suspended. GSW certainly finishes much higher in the standings if Dray did not get suspended. No denial here. What’s being discussed here is how good he is on the court, which is still very good. I put in there he needs to stop the violence, but you yourself need to not be in denial about the fact that these “distractions” don’t matter if you win a title.
One other thing, who exactly do you replace the most “intangible” guy in the league with? Who out there even plays point-center?
Three reasons I’d like to get rid of Mike Dunleavy
1. From what I watched on the trade deadline. Mike Dunleavy is not able to make any trade.
2. He is responsible to take James Wiseman at the 2nd pick
3. Warriors owners paid huge luxury taxes. He need to take responsiblity.
1. He tried hard to make a trade on trade deadline but was turned down for Caruso and Siakam trades
2. Nope Myers was responsible for that trade
3. Reason they paid a high tax is the NBA changed the rules. he had to trade away Poole to get rid of a over paid contract.
4. With poor draft picks he still was able to pick Podz a rookie all team player and Davis one of the best 2nd round pick in last year’s draft.
This Sillivan character seems to really just want GSW to be in last place. I never see any positives from anything they post.
Steph Curry ruined a LOT of fanbases’ minds…
he is a Laker/Lebron fan.
All Kerr had to do all season was play Steph and Klay at the 1 and 2, then bring them both out and replace them with Podz and GP2 at the 1 and 2. He literally never did this though. Podz, GP2, Wiggins, Kuminga and TJD would have cooked but we never saw this lineup…
Also missing from this thread, how Wiggins kept missing time for non-injury reasons. That sunk GSW pretty hard. No Dray and no Wiggs makes it hard to win games.