Gary Payton II opens up about Dillon Brooks foul, injury

Gary Payton II of the Golden State Warriors says he has no bad blood for Dillon Brooks after his foul lead to him fracturing his elbow.

The Golden State Warriors are one win away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 2019. In the previous round against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Warriors lost Gary Payton to a fractured elbow after receiving a hard foul by Dillon Brooks.

In his Players Tribune article titled “This is for Dub Nation,” Payton said that he is not mad over the foul by Brooks and that he has no bad blood with him.

“There’s no bad blood between me and Dillon,” wrote Payton. “After we closed out Game 6, I got word that he wanted to talk outside the locker room, and when I got there he apologized. I give Dillon a lot of credit for that — no text, no social media, nothing indirect. He came in person, and we talked like grown men. He told me he didn’t mean to hurt me. I believe him.”

Gary Payton II says he has no bad blood for Dillon Brooks for foul that led to injury

The injury occurred early on in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals. As Payton went up for a layup, Brooks struck him in the head. Payton then fell to the court and landed awkwardly on his elbow. Brooks received a flagrant 2 foul and was ejected as a result.

Payton was ruled out quickly following the injury, and an MRI revealed that he suffered a fracture in his left elbow and that he would be out for three-to-five weeks.

On Friday, May 20, the Warriors’ public relations department provided an update on Payton, saying that he is making “good progress” in his recovery and that he did “various light individual on-court activities. He is set to be re-evaluated in one week.

When it comes to the foul, Payton wanted to let everyone know that he does not have ill-will towards Brooks and that the two talked about it after Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals.