The Warriors almost un-did the James Wiseman trade

A bizarre situation with the Blazers and Warriors could have resulted in Wiseman returning to Golden State on Monday. But it didn't!

Good morning. Busy weekend in the NBA. Let’s basketball.

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Drug War

The Sorrow of Telemachus, Angelica Kauffmann, 1783

Some wild news broke on Friday: the last-minute 4-team trade involving Saddiq Bey, James Wiseman and Gary Payton II might not go through because GP2 didn’t clear his physical with the Warriors. Payton had recently returned to the Blazers’ lineup after dealing with an abdominal injury; the Warriors medical staff believe Payton should be out for most of the rest of the team, which would make their trade a bad investment. There are allegations that Payton had been administered a powerful painkiller called Toradol just to suit up. The Athletic initially reported that Payton had received Toradol injections, which appears to be quite serious. Payton’s agent Aaron Goodwin denied that. It sounds like Payton actually took Toradol orally, which appears to be much less serious and more common. I am not a pharmacologist. Were I one, I would probably not write a basketball newsletter (although you never know!).

The trade was on the rocks until Sunday night, when the Warriors finally cleared it with the NBA promising an investigation into what the Blazers knew about Payton’s health before agreeing to the trade. ESPN reports that not only could Portland face sanctions, but the Warriors might not owe the Blazers all the second round picks they sent out in the deal.

It would have been completely bizarre for the NBA to have to send Bey back to Detroit after the surprise trade, and one could only have imagined how Wiseman’s return to Golden State would have gone. Narrowly dodged some very awkward situations there! Now we wait to see when Payton gets on the court for the Warriors, and what the NBA does to Portland, if anything. Count this as a risk of doing business at the absolute last minute.

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A Buyout Signing Who Might Actually Matter

Something I learned covering the sport with my pal Paul Flannery back in the day is that the basketball media industrial complex puts a lot of stock in the buyout market and these post-deadline transaction … but it’s rarely the case (if ever) that a player waived and signed in February actually has a material impact on the championship.

There might be an exception to that rule this year.