Gary Payton II, Jonathan Kuminga near return to Warriors rotation

LOS ANGELES – The Warriors’ best perimeter defender is almost ready to return to the lineup. 

Gary Payton II, who has missed the past three games with a partial tear in his left thumb, participated in the team’s shootaround at UCLA on Thursday morning. 

He was ruled out of the team’s game against the Lakers, but the team announced he will be listed as day-to-day moving forward. 

“We’re going to get Gary back soon,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said pregame. 

Payton, 32...