The Warriors have signed guard Gary Payton II, the team announced Tuesday morning.

Payton II was waived following Golden State’s preseason finale last Friday, along with Mychal Mulder, Jordan Bell, and somewhat controversially, Avery Bradley.

There were immediate rumblings, however, that there was the potential for the Warriors to re-sign Payton in the coming days.

By cutting GP2 and then signing him a few days later the team was able to save some money while also re-signing him to a non-guaranteed deal, allowing the Warriors to have added flexibility for that 15th roster spot, should they need it moving forward.

Payton II missed most of training camp and preseason recovering from an offseason hernia issue, but that didn’t stop Bob Myers and company from deciding to bring him back to fill that final roster vacancy just hours prior to their regular-season tip-off Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.

With this signing, the Warriors have added a defensive-minded, athletic guard, who will be able to take some of the defensive pressure off of Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole, allowing those players to focus on scoring the ball on the other side of the floor.

Steve Kerr said on Tuesday morning that Payton II will be on the bench and available to play in the Warriors season opener.

Here is a breakdown of the GP2 signing from GSWReddit on Twitter:

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