Enter Gary Payton II, who received the ball from a driving Dennis Schröder and got all the way up, slamming down a thunderous dunk on OKC center Isaiah Hartenstein to extend the Warriors’ lead to nine points with just over a minute to play. The dunk got the entire Golden State bench on its feet, and sent the crowd into hysterics.

Gary Payton II occasionally finds himself flashing back to his long-ago days at Spring Valley High School in Las Vegas, the first time he regularly handled the duties of a power forward more than those of a guard.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors admitted that he wanted to play more minutes against the Oklahoma City Thunder to prove to Steve Kerr that he can still perform at an elite NBA level. Golden State Warriors secured a crucial 116-109 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in a game highlighted by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s impressive performance and Andrew Wiggins’ leadership on the court.

Gary Payton II credits Denis Schroeder while joking about his recent lack of highlight plays after last night's dunk on Isaiah Hartenstein.

My league sources confirm these hesitations, revealing that Curry himself has reservations about Butler's fit in the Warriors' locker room — a sentiment shared by head coach Steve Kerr. Their worries stem from Butler's tumultuous history with previous teams:

“Yet the problem that then occurs is that the Lakers would need to send out a colossal number of players to match the salary of Stephen Curry, at which point the Warriors themselves would need to cut multiple key players just to absorb the number of players coming to them.”

Stephen Curry hit a long 3-pointer with 1:52 left on the way to 21 points, Andrew Wiggins scored 27 and the Golden State Warriors beat the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder 116-109.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 52 points for Oklahoma City Wednesday, but Golden State's balanced scoring attack was too much for the Thunder in a 116-109 victory. Andrew Wiggins scored 27 for the Warriors.

In a blockbuster three-team deal, the Golden State Warriors land Jimmy Butler to form a dynamic duo with Stephen Curry, the Miami Heat get younger with Brandon Ingram, and the New Orleans Pelicans continue their rebuild by offloading Ingram for valuable role players.

Alexander's second 50-point game of the season wasn't enough to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder in their 116-109 loss to the Golden

Even though Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put up 52 points, the Golden State Warriors still overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder 116-109 at Chase Center on Wednesday.

Steph Curry dropped 17 points in the second half and made key plays down the stretch. Andrew Wiggins dropped a team-high 27 points, including five 3-pointers. Kevon Looney matched his regular season career-high with 18 points and Gary Payton II (15 points, nine rebounds) stamped the game with a vicious slam dunk with under a minute left.