Gary Payton


Gary Dwayne Payton Sr. is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association for 17 seasons. Widely considered one of the greatest point guards of all time, he is best known for his 13-year tenure with the Seattle SuperSonics, where he holds franchise records in assists and steals and led them to an NBA Finals appearance. He also played with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics, and Miami Heat. Payton won an NBA championship with the Heat in 2006. Nicknamed "the Glove" for his defensive abilities, Payton was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. In October 2021, Payton was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Payton is the first point guard to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, and the only point guard winner in the award's first 39 years, until Marcus Smart was selected in 2022. He was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team nine times, an NBA record he shares with Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant. He was also a nine-time NBA All-Star and a nine-time All-NBA Team member. Payton was called "probably as complete a guard as there ever was" by Basketball Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich.

Early life

Gary Dwayne Payton was born on July 23, 1968, in Oakland, California. He attended Skyline High School, where he excelled in basketball along with former NBA player Greg Foster.

College career

Payton attended Oregon State University in Corvallis. At one point, he wanted to attend The University of Texas at El Paso, but Don Haskins later rescinded his offer after Payton was deciding between UTEP and St. John's. In his sophomore year of high school, his grades plummeted and he was declared academically ineligible. His father encouraged him to focus on school, and he was allowed to play again. Throughout his four-year career at Oregon State, he became one of the most decorated basketball players in school history.
During his senior season in 1989–90, Payton was featured in the cover story of Sports Illustrated on March 5 as the nation's best college basketball player. He was a consensus All-American, a three-time All-Pac-10 selection, and both the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and conference Freshman of the Year in 1987. He was the MVP of the Far West Classic tournament three times, the Pac-10 Player of the Week nine times, and named to the Pac-10's All-Decade Team. At the time of his graduation, Payton held the school record for points, field goals, three-point field goals, assists, and steals – all of which he still holds today except for career points and three-point field goals. During his career at OSU, the Beavers made three NCAA tournament appearances and one NIT appearance. He was elected into OSU's Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Professional career

Seattle SuperSonics (1990–2003)

Payton was the second overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, and wound up spending his first 12½ seasons with the Sonics.
In his third career game, Payton recorded his first double-double after recording 13 points and 10 assists in a road win over the Nuggets. On February 23, 1991, Payton recorded his first career triple-double after recording 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists in a losing effort to the Suns. The following game, Payton scored only 2 points but dished out 16 assists, a then career-high for him. He joined Slick Watts and Nate McMillan as the only SuperSonics' players to have dished out 16 or more assists in his rookie season. Throughout his rookie campaign, Payton recorded 8 point-assist double-doubles, the most by any SuperSonics' player in history. His average for his rookie season is 7.2 points per game, 3.0 rebounds per game, 6.4 assists per game, and 2.0 steals per game.
Entering the league to star-studded expectations, Payton struggled during his first two seasons in the league, averaging 8.2 points per game during that span. In his second season, Payton recorded 2 triple-doubles on the whole season joining Slick Watts and Nate McMillan at that time to have recorded 2 triple-doubles in a season in Supersonics franchise history. He scored a season-high 22 points to go along with 7 assists in a road win over the Bullets on November 19, 1991. His season average is 9.4 points per game, 3.6 rebounds per game, 6.2 assists per game, 1.8 steals per game, and 0.3 blocks per game.
Payton soon proved himself to be one of the league's top point guards during the 1990s. Payton, alongside Shawn Kemp formed the "Sonic Boom", under head coach George Karl. In 1996, the SuperSonics won a franchise record 64 games, then reached the NBA Finals where they lost in six games to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. The SuperSonics trailed in the series 0-3, but with Payton assigned to guard Jordan the SuperSonics staved off elimination by winning Games Four and Five.
In 2001, the SuperSonics were bought by Howard Schultz, with whom Payton had a sour relationship. When Payton did not attend the first day of training camp in 2002, Schultz insisted that Payton be traded.

Milwaukee Bucks (2003)

In the middle of the 2002–03 season at the trade deadline, Payton was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks along with Desmond Mason in exchange for Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie, Ronald Murray and 2003 first-round draft pick. Payton was reunited with George Karl, who had been his head coach with the Sonics and was now in the same capacity with the Bucks. Payton played the remaining 28 games with the Bucks, averaging 19.6 points and 7.4 assists per game. The Bucks faced the defending Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Nets in the first round of the playoffs, pushing the Nets to six games before losing to the more experienced and well rounded Nets. Payton led the Bucks in scoring and assists during the series, which included a 20-point, 14-assist performance in a Game 4 Milwaukee win.

Los Angeles Lakers (2003–2004)

As an unrestricted free agent prior to the 2003–04 season, Payton, along with Karl Malone, signed with the Los Angeles Lakers to make a run at their first NBA Championship. Payton started in all 82 games and averaged 14.6 points with 5.5 assists and 1.2 steals, but struggled with Lakers coach Phil Jackson's triangle offense, which limited his ball-handling and post-up opportunities. Payton provided offense in games where superstar teammates Shaquille O'Neal or Kobe Bryant could not play due to injury, including a 30-point outburst in an overtime win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on February 4.
Despite injuries to Malone, O'Neal and Bryant throughout the season, the Lakers won 56 games and the Pacific Division. In the playoffs, Payton averaged just 7.8 points per game, but scored 15 points in Games 3 and 6 of the Lakers' semifinals series against the San Antonio Spurs, and scored 18 points to go with nine assists in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers would reach the NBA Finals before falling to the Detroit Pistons in five games.

Boston Celtics (2004–2005)

Prior to the 2004–05 season, the Lakers traded Payton and Rick Fox to the Boston Celtics for center Chris Mihm, small forward Jumaine Jones and point guard Chucky Atkins. While Payton expressed displeasure with the trade, he ultimately did report to Boston and began the 2004–05 season as the Celtics' starting point guard. On February 24, 2005, Payton was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in a deal that brought former Celtic Antoine Walker back to Boston. The Hawks then waived Payton immediately following the trade, and he returned a week later to Boston as a free agent. Payton started all 77 games he played for Boston and averaged 11.3 points per game and 6.1 assists as the Celtics won the Atlantic Division before losing in the first round to the Indiana Pacers.

Miami Heat (2005–2007)

On September 22, 2005, he signed a one-year $1.1 million contract with Miami, reuniting with Walker, as well as former Lakers' teammate Shaquille O'Neal. Serving as a backup to Jason Williams, Payton averaged 7.7 points and started 25 of 81 games. In the playoffs, Payton did not start but averaged 24.3 minutes a game after averaging 28.5 minutes during the regular season, often playing during pressure situations in the 4th quarter of games. In Game 4 of the semifinals against the New Jersey Nets, Payton hit a critical three-pointer with 56 seconds left in the game to clinch the Heat victory. In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on the road against the Detroit Pistons, Payton scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, helping the Heat set the tone in the series. Miami won the series in 6 games to reach the team's first ever Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Miami lost the first two games in Dallas and trailed in the final quarter of Game 3 before a comeback led by Dwyane Wade culminated with a Jason Williams pass to Payton, who faked his defender and hit the game-winning jump shot to keep Miami from falling 3–0 in the series. In Game 5, Payton scored 8 points, including Miami's final field goal with 29 seconds left, to help clinch a one-point victory. The Heat returned to Dallas for Game 6 and won 95–92, securing their first and Payton's only NBA title.
On September 6, 2006, the 38-year-old Payton re-signed with the defending champion Miami Heat on a one-year, $1.2 million contract. During the subsequent 2006–07 NBA season, Payton continued to climb up several NBA all-time lists: he moved from 17th to 8th in all-time NBA games played, passed John Havlicek and Robert Parish to move into 7th in all-time minutes played, and passed Hal Greer and Larry Bird to become the 21st-highest scorer in NBA history.

National team

Payton was a member of the gold medal-winning 1996 and 2000 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Teams.

Player profile

Personality

Payton is well known for his trash-talk. He received the fourth-most technical fouls of all time with 250. Of his trash talking, Payton has stated "I never take it too far...I just try to talk and get their mind off the game, and turn their attention on me", adding that "sometimes I get accused of trash talking even though I'm not... immediately figure you're trash talking. But I could be talking to a guy about what's going on or asking about his family."
In addition, All-Star point guard Jason Kidd has referred to Payton as a "mentor" for the way he treated Kidd growing up in the same neighborhood of Oakland.
In 2001, he gave a humorous, televised "motivational speech" to his team during the NBA All-Star Game.