The Fantasy Basketball Encyclopedia

Player Dossier · Golden State Warriors

Gary Payton II

Gary Payton II is a steals-and-FG% specialist whom Golden State is expected to bring back on a second straight veteran minimum, giving him a real if small base-case role.

Team context: Golden State Warriors · Age: 33 · Position: SG/SF · Status: unsigned; reported mutual interest on a one-year minimum · As of: 2026-07-18

2026-27 median projection

GP MPG FG% FT% 3PM PTS REB AST STL BLK TO
64 13.0 .580 .670 0.3 5.8 2.8 1.2 0.8 0.2 0.6

Nine-cat: D+ deep-league specialist. Points: D. Dynasty: 2.0/10. Opening-night allocation: 12 minutes.

Correction 2026-07-18: this page previously carried a zero-game base case with a conditional return line. It now carries a base-case projection of 64 games and 12 opening-night minutes. ESPN's Anthony Slater reported July 10 that the Warriors and Payton have mutual interest in a seventh season together and that another one-year veteran minimum — roughly a $2.4 million cap hit — is expected (SI). That is the same class of evidence the desk already accepted as a base-case assumption for Draymond Green and De'Anthony Melton, and there was no stated reason to treat Payton differently. No signing had been announced by the cutoff, so the assumption remains an assumption.

Status and evidence

Payton became an unrestricted free agent after his contract expired; Golden State's transaction log recorded his free-agent status (Yahoo Sports transactions). NBA.com's team display still included him at the cutoff, illustrating why a roster page is not itself a contract transaction. The July 10 mutual-interest report is a report, not a transaction, and the distinction is preserved in the roster-truth table on the team page.

In 73 games he averaged 7.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 threes in 15.6 minutes, with .583 FG and .650 FT (ESPN). High FG% comes from low-volume cutting and finishing; poor FT% has little effect until attempts rise.

Melton fills much of the same point-of-attack defensive need, while Richard, Jones, and Leons compete for low-usage wing defense. The twelve base-case minutes come out of Melton, Richard, and Cryer rather than out of the forward rotation, because that is the role Payton actually occupies.

Range

Career record

Pre-NBA: Two junior-college seasons at Salt Lake CC (9.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists as a freshman; 14.1/7.9/3.8 as a sophomore, second-team NJCAA All-American), then two at Oregon State: 13.4 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.1 steals as a junior, and 16.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 steals as a senior. Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in both Oregon State seasons, first-team All-Pac-12 both years, AP honorable-mention All-American in 2016. The defensive identity was fully formed in college and has never changed. Draft: undrafted (2016). Spent 2016-17 with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers before a first Milwaukee contract in April 2017, then bounced across Bucks, Lakers, Wizards and G League affiliates on ten-days and two-ways through 2020.

Season Age Team GP MPG PTS REB AST STL BLK 3PM FG% FT% TO
2016-17 24 MIL 6 16.5 3.3 2.0 2.2 0.5 0.7 0.2 .364 .600 —
2017-18 25 MIL 12 8.8 2.5 1.4 0.8 0.3 0.1 0.2 .394 .667 0.3
2017-18 25 LAL 11 10.5 3.5 2.5 1.1 0.4 0.2 0.4 .415 .167 0.4
2018-19 26 WAS 3 5.3 3.7 0.7 1.3 1.0 0.3 0.3 .625 — 0.3
2019-20 27 WAS 29 14.9 3.9 2.8 1.7 1.1 0.2 0.4 .414 .500 0.7
2020-21 28 GSW 10 4.0 2.5 1.1 0.1 0.6 0.1 0.2 .769 .750 0.1
2021-22 29 GSW 71 17.6 7.1 3.5 0.9 1.4 0.3 0.6 .616 .603 0.6
2022-23 30 POR 15 17.0 4.1 2.6 1.5 1.1 0.1 0.6 .585 1.000 0.8
2022-23 30 GSW 7 16.0 5.7 4.3 1.1 0.9 0.6 0.6 .607 .667 0.6
2023-24 31 GSW 44 15.5 5.5 2.6 1.1 0.9 0.4 0.5 .563 .609 0.6
2024-25 32 GSW 62 15.0 6.5 3.0 1.3 0.8 0.3 0.5 .574 .711 0.6
2025-26 33 GSW 73 15.6 7.5 3.6 1.7 0.9 0.3 0.5 .583 .650 0.8
Career 343 15.1 5.9 3.0 1.3 1.0 0.3 0.5 .564 .630 0.7

Durability: The pattern is a decade of small samples for roster reasons followed by genuine health volatility in Golden State. He cleared 60 games only three times in ten years: 71 in 2021-22, 62 in 2024-25, and a career-high 73 in 2025-26. The 2022-23 season was cut to 22 total games by an abdominal injury that delayed his Portland debut until January, after which he was traded back to Golden State at the deadline; 2023-24 was 44 games, the specific causes not verified here. The 2025-26 count is the outlier in the right direction and is the single best argument for a seventh Golden State season — but it is one year against a career baseline, at 33.

Trajectory: Ten NBA seasons, 343 games, and a role that has never widened past 18 minutes — he is a point-of-attack defender who scores exclusively on cuts, transition and putbacks, which is why the field-goal percentage has sat above .560 for five straight years on two to five attempts a night. The 2025-26 line was his best across the board and came at a career-high game count. He is unsigned as of the cutoff with reported mutual interest on a one-year minimum. Even if that closes, twelve to fifteen minutes behind a crowded Golden State guard rotation makes him a deep-league steals and field-goal-percentage streamer only; he becomes genuinely rosterable if Melton or Moody misses extended time and his minutes push toward the high teens, and he becomes worthless the moment a younger defender takes the assignment.

Career sources: ESPN player stats · StatMuse 2025-26 season averages · Wikipedia

Open questions