The Golden State Warriors approved the four-team trade that sees them acquire Gary Payton II ahead of Sunday's 9:30 PM ET deadline.

Golden State found a core muscle injury when completing Payton's physical. That put the trade in jeopardy of being finalized. The Warriors are reportedly working the NBA, as they believe the Portland Trail Blazers withheld key medical information during the process of completing the four-team trade.

Once pushed through, Golden State will acquire Payton and two second-round picks. The Atlanta Hawks will acquire Saddiq Bey, while the Detroit Pistons will acquire James Wiseman. The Portland Trail Blazers will acquire Kevin Knox and five second-round picks.

The Golden State Warriors are working with the NBA on a way to complete a four-team trade involving Gary Payton II.

The Warriors want to preserve their rights to pursue recourse on how the Portland Trail Blazers shared Payton's medical information. 

There is a 9:30 p.m. ET deadline on the Warriors to make a final decision on Payton's physical and the fate of the trade.

A Golden State physical revealed that Payton would be out for a significant part of the remaining season.

Danny Green and the Houston Rockets have agreed to a buyout.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are nearing an agreement with Green.

The Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns also were interested in Green.

Payton Pritchard was mentioned in trade rumors leading to the deadline and hoped he would be moved by the Boston Celtics. 

Pritchard's minutes have diminished as he plays behind Marcus Smart, Derrick White and Malcom Brogdon.

“I definitely was expecting and hoping [for a trade],” Pritchard told the Globe. “But you know, I [have to] look at the good things. We’re the best team in the NBA right now and we have a great team with really great players, so for me it’s an opportunity to learn and to keep growing.”

Pritchard has watched his minutes steadily decrease each of his three seasons since being drafted 26th overall in 2020. He’s averaging 12.6 minutes and 4.7 points this season, both career lows. 

Brad Stevens offered Pritchard in a package with Danilo Gallinari for San Antonio’s Jakob Poeltl, but the Spurs declined the offer and traded center to the Toronto Raptors ahead of Thursday’s deadline.

“It was an emotional day, but you know I’m here and I quickly changed my mind and I’m here to do a job to the best of my ability,” Pritchard said. “For me my mindset is just come in every day and keep getting better. The only thing I can do is focus on that.”

Pritchard is eligible for a rookie extension this summer. 

The Memphis Grizzlies were interested in a major upgrade and pursued a number of options in a strategy that was a departure from their emphasis on the draft.

"They tried really hard [on] OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges," said Adrian Wojnarowski. "I think those kind of wing players they felt could catapult them."

The Grizzlies reportedly offered three future first round picks to the Toronto Raptors for Anunoby.

Wojnarowski has also reported that the Grizzlies could revisit those talks in the offseason.

A four-team trade between the Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers is in peril following concerns over Gary Payton II's physical exam.

The Warriors ruled Payton as a failed physical and have until Saturday to through with the deal or rescind the trade.

Payton has been playing through a core muscle injury and the Blazers' training staff had been pushing him to gut through it with Toreador shots. This information had not been relayed to the Warriors during the negotiations.

Payton had abdominal surgery during the summer. 

“Player safety is super important to us,” said Blazers general manager Joe Cronin. “It’s a super important thing around the league. We were playing him … he had been cleared and we were confident that he was healthy when he was playing. We would not have brought him back if we thought he wasn’t healthy or if we thought he was at risk. You trust that we did the right thing, and you trust that our process was correct, and these reports, you know, I think if you knew our clearance process was proper, so I will have to rely on that.”

The Warriors sent out James Wiseman to the Pistons to acquire Payton, while Detroit traded Saddiq Bey to the Hawks for five second round picks, which were sent to Portland.

Payton has two years and $17.8 million remaining on his contract after this season.

Payton signed a three-year, $26.1 million deal with the Blazers.

While the Phoenix Suns appear to have been the only team with a legitimate chance of trading for Kevin Durant at the trade deadline with what was described as "a covert one-team negotiation," Bill Simmons shared on his podcast that he believes the New York Knicks were also in on a possible deal to at least some extent.

"I think the Knicks were the other team in this K.D. thing," said Simmons. "It's unclear to me whether they were an actual, real pursuer... Or, I know the Knicks were the other team. It's unclear to me if they were a real pursuer, or if they were trying to jack up the price for K.D. with the Suns kind of hoping maybe Booker down the road...

"I think the Booker Knicks thing... just way down the road. He's not a free agent until 2028, but if this turns into a situation where they have their run for three years and then it's a rebuild and Devin Booker is like 'Alright, well we had our run, we won our title, whatever."

Simmons also said that the Knicks would have built their package around RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin and their full suite of draft picks.

"I do think the Knicks were involved," punctuated Simmons.

Durant was strongly linked to the Knicks in 2019, but he and Kyrie Irving decided to sign with the Brooklyn Nets. With Durant situated in New York City already, he wouldn't have had to uproot himself by going to the Knicks.

Other reporting has indicated that Durant preferred a trade to the Suns and was zeroed in on them.

When the Phoenix Suns agreed to the asking price of the Brooklyn Nets of Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and four first round picks, they thought the deal was virtually done. But the Nets then also wanted Jae Crowder included.

For the moment, the request of Crowder was a dealbreaker for the Suns' decision-makers. Crowder had been on the trade market for months and he was quickly flipped by the Nets to the Milwaukee for five second round picks.

The Suns pivoted to trade discussions for John Collins and they nearly had a deal in place to acquire him.

Mat Ishbia called James Jones a few hours later and approved the deal with the inclusion of Crowder. 

The Brooklyn Nets had zero interest in any trade of Kyrie Irving that forced them to take back Russell Westbrook. Trading Irving out for Westbrook and his $47 million contract would have added tens of millions to Brooklyn's luxury tax bill.

Brooklyn required the participation of a third team to take on Westbrook. The Lakers offered a pair of unprotected picks for Irving, but the Nets preferred receiving Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie and a 2029 first round pick from the Dallas Mavericks. The deal was decidedly less complicated than what the Lakers could do.

Brooklyn didn't ultimately struggle with picking the offer from the Mavericks over any other for Irving. 

The Lakers traded Westbrook and a protected 2027 first round pick to the Utah Jazz while receiving back D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley. 

When Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman requested a meeting with Sean Marks less than 24 hours after the Brooklyn Nets traded it was described as "somber." Durant told Marks he wanted to be traded and specifically asked to be dealt to the Phoenix Suns. Durant, Kleiman and Marks then Facetimed Joe Tsai, who was at his home in San Diego.

Durant wanted the situation to remain private as he didn't want a bidding war and days of being the target of speculation. 

"At some point, there's just a fatigue," one source close to the process said. "There's just too much drama. Too much uncertainty."

Durant told the Nets he'd play out the rest of the 22-23 season if they couldn't find a way to execute the trade with the Suns and he'd find a way to get excited about their new additions in Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith from the Dallas Mavericks.

The Durant deal started as an owner-to-owner call on Monday afternoon as Tsai told Mat Ishbia that Durant wanted a trade to the Suns. Ishbia had attended several Nets' games over the years as a guest of Tsai and the two had grown to like each other. 

Marks and James Jones began working on the details of a trade, and the Nets never came off their asking price.