The Golden Warriors are a crucial man down with Gary Payton Jr. suffering an elbow injury in Game 2 against the Memphis Grizzlies – one that could've been avoided.

Dillon Brooks has been the subject of intense scrutiny after his hard foul that injured the Warriors guard. One voice who was critical on the matter was former player and outspoken NBA analyst Richard Jefferson.

While Jefferson doesn't claim Brooks intentionally wanted to cause harm to Payton, he does call him out with the intent to foul recklessly, which resulted in keeping him out of the Warriors' rotation.

“I have four months out in a season cause I had my wrist taken out on a dunk. I know not necessarily the intent to hurt, but I know the intent to foul extremely hard and the repercussions that come for that.

When you do those moves, then you know, as any player, if I hit a guy like that,  do I know what's going to happen? No. Do I know bad things can happen, severely? Yes. So the intent is, you know the potential of what your act is going to do when you do it. … You do not swing and club like that trying to get a blocked shot from behind on a person in a vulnerable spot,” said Richard Jefferson on Brooks' hard foul during Warriors-Grizzlies Game 2.

Gary Payton II was Golden State's best defensive weapon to defend Ja Morant. With him out of the series, the Warriors are going to have to put in a team effort to contain the Grizzlies star.