Gary Payton II was never a good fit
Hindsight is 20/20, and while Cronin was able to flip Gary Payton II for five second-round picks, the three-year, $26.15 million contract Cronin handed out looks pretty bad.
GP2 played just 15 games with the Blazers because of a core muscle injury. While the idea was that he would provide much-needed experience and defense off the bench, the Blazers needed size, not more guards.
This contract never made a lot of sense but, fortunately, Cronin was able to move on from GP2 and get some draft capital in return.